\ 



PfilCE.— Single Copies sent by Mail, Postage pre-paid, 15 Cents; 8 Copies 

for One Dollar. 



PROCEEDINGS 



EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION, 



HELD AT 



OSWEGO, N. Y., 



FEBRUARY 11, 12, AND 13, 1862, 



TO EXAMINE INTO A SYSTEM OF 



PRIMARY INSTRUCTION BY OBJECT LESSONS. 



EEPOETED FOB AND PUBLISHED 



UNDER THE DIRECTION OP THE BOARD OP EDUCATION OP OSWEGO. 



NEW YORK: 

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 



FRANKLIN SQUARE. 



1862. 



tD!)at CeaMng €^utators Bag of 

OALKmS' OBJECT LESSONS. 



From HON. S. S. RANDALL, City Superintendent 
of Public Schools. 

New Yoek, August 29, 1861. 
Deak Sie,— I have carefully examined your work on 
" Object Lessons" designed especially for Primary Schools, 
and have no hesitation in saying that it is, in every re- 
spect, the best manual in this important department of 
instruction which has met my view. I consider it indis- 
pensably necessary in every well conducted Primary 
School, and shall do all in my power to promote its gen- 
eral introduction into our Public Schools. 

Frmi E. A. SHELDON, Esq., Secretary of the Board 

of Education. 

Oswego, N. Y., August 20, 1861. 
My Dear Fkienb, — I am much pleased with your new 
work. It will meet a demand that is being deeply felt in 
every part of the country, and open a new era in primary 
instruction. It is the best book to put into the hands of 
a primary teacher that has yet been published. It more 
than meets my expectations. It is full, clear, and ex- 
plicit, and just what is wanted. It is very opportune, and 
will do great good in hastening on that reformation which 
has now commenced in stood earnest in this country. 

From PROp. W, F. PHELPS, Principdl of the State 
Normal School. 

Trenton, N. J., August 31, 18C1. 
I have carefully perused Mr. Calkins' "• Object Lessons 
for Teachers and Parents," and tested by actual experi- 
ment many of its suggestions. From tliese trials I am 
satisfied that it is the book for the times. It must do 
more than any other American pGblication toward popu- 
larizing a system of education founded upon Nature's 
laws, and which is justly exciting so much attention 
among the leading educationists of the age. I cordially 
recommend it to every parent, teacher, and friend of edu- 
cation in this country. 

From W. H. WELLS, Esq., SupH of Public Schools. 
Chicago, III., August 12, 1861. 
Deab Sir, — The most important movement now in 
progress for the benefit of schools in this country is un- 
questionably the introduction of Object Teaching into 
primary classes. The work which you have prepared on 
" Object Lesso7is" is timely, and a careful examination 
of its contents has satisfied me that your sj'stem of devel- 
opment is in strict accordance with tbe teachings of Na- 
ture, and happily adapted to meet the wants of Primary 
Schools. 

From PROF. GEO. W. MINNS, Principal of Nor- 
mal School. 
San Francisco, Cal., Sept, 13, 1861. 
Dear Sir,— 1 have long considered Object Teaching of 
great importance. Very few teachers understand how to 
conduct the exercises. I purchased your work — " Primary 
Object Lessons" — as soon as I saw it advertised in this 
city, and I think it exactly the book wanted. Every one 
who examines it will at once understand the true theory 
and purpose of Object Teaching. I was very much pleased 
to find that the lessons are graduated to a natural course 
of development. Lessons in Object Teaching have been 
generally given at random upon any subject which hap- 
pened to occur to the teacher. You pursue the subject 
systematically. 



From JOHN D. PHILBRICK, Esq., Superintendent 
of Public Schools. 

Boston, August 23, 1861. 
My Dear Sib, — I desire to assure you that I am highly 
pleased with your excellent work on " Object Lessons," 
and that I consider it one of the best which have been 
prepared for the use of teachers in elementary schools. It 
seems to me that no primary teacher, however accom- 
plished, could read such a work without being benefited, 
while the inexperienced, and those who have had but lim- 
ited opportunities for preparing to teach, might derive 
very great assistance from it. Its great merit consists in 
its adaptation to the wants of those teachers and school 
officers who are seeking for information as to the methods 
of teaching children something besides the dull routine of 
reading and spelling without "note or comment." 

From HON. DAVID N. CAMP, Sup't of Common 
Schools for the- State of Connecticut. 

New Britain, August 2, 1861. 

Dear Sir, — I h!tv.e examined your "Primary Object 
Lessons" with much satisfaction. The work embraces 
subjects of great importance to every teacher of an ele- 
mentary school, and to all parents who are interested in 
the proper intellectual and moral education of their chil- 
dren. I believe the- volume will be found of great value, 
not only to the young teacher, but to those of experience. 

From REV. B. G. NORTHRUP, State Agent of the 
Massachusetts Board of Education. 

Boston, September 16, 1861. 

My Dear Sir,— In lecturing at the Normal Schools and 
Teachers' Institutes of this State for the last four years, 
it has been my aim to urge the introduction of " Object 
Lessons," and the early and habitual study of common 
things, into our public schools. I have often reiterated 
the maxim, "• Nature before books — things before names." 
In unfolding the importance and methods of cultivating 
the perceptive faculties, and forming the habit of close ob- 
servation of common things, I have so deeply felt the 
want of a suitable manual on this subject to place in the 
hands of teachers, that in compliance with repeated soli- 
citations of experienced educators, I had begun the prep- 
aration of such a volume. But your work very happily 
meets the necessity of the case. 

I have carefully examined your chapter on "Color," 
and although I have for some years lectured to teachers 
on the importance and modes of training the eye in the 
perception of colors, I wish frankly to say that I have 
never approached giving so complete, exhaustive, and 
philosophical view as you have there presented. 

I cordially welcome your book, and confidently recom- 
mend it to all teachers of primary schools. 

From PROF. SAMUEL A. DUNCAN, Dartmouth 

College, and School Co^n. for Grafton County, N. H. 
November 2, 1861. 

Dear Sir, — ^The friends of popular education may well 
rejoice that the much-needed reform in our methods of 
instruction, which it is the object of this work on Object 
Lessons to facilitate, has found so able a champion as Mr. 
Calkins. 

No one can fail to be convinced of the correctness of the 
method, or of the utility of such a work as the Object 
Lessons in inculcating a knowledge of its practical appli- 
cation. 



Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, Franklin Square, New Tork. 



Copies will be sent by Mail, postage free, on receipt of One Dollar. 



PROCEEDINGS 



EDUCATIONAL COIS'VENTIOM', 

HELD AT 

OSWEGO, N. Y., 

PEBEUAKY 11, 13, AND 13, 1862, 

TO EXAMINE INTO A SYSTEM OF 

PRIMARY INSTRUCTION BY OBJECT LESSONS. 

REPOKTED FOR AND PtTBUSHED 

UNDER THE DHtECTION OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF 
OSWEGO. 



NEW YORK: 
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN SQUARE. 

1862. 



-■''S 



The Board of Education of the city of Oswego, New York, issued a ciixular 
in December, 1861, to the leading educators of the country, inviting them to 
an examination of the system of primary instruction whicli had been recently 
inti'oduced into their public schools. In response to that invitation, an educa- 
tional meeting convened at the Court-room in Oswego on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 
at 11 o'clock A.M. 

The following gentlemen served on the Committee of Examination : 

S. B. WooLWORTH, LL.D., Sec'y Board of Kegents, Albany, N. Y. 

Emerson W. Ketes, Deputy Sup't. Pub. Instruction, N. Y. 

Hon. David N. Camp, State Sup't. Schools, Conn., and Principal of 
the State Normal School. 

Geo. L. FARNHA3I, Sup't. Schools, Syracuse, N. Y. 

S. W. Starkweather, Sup't. Schools, Rochester, N. Y. 

Henry B.Wilbur, M.D., Sup't. New York State Asylum for Idiots, 
Syracuse, N. Y. 

Prof. D. H. Cochran, Prin. State Normal School, Albany, N. Y. 

Prof. Wm. F. Phelps, Prin. State Normal School, Trenton, N. J. 

W. D. Huntley, Prin. Experimental Depart. State Normal School, Al- 
bany, N. Y. 

Miss L. E. Ketchum, Prin. of the Experimental Depart. State Normal 
School, Bloomington, 111. 

Thos. F. Harrison, Prin. Greenwich Av. School, New York City. 

W. Nicoll, School Commissioner, Suffolk Co., N. Y. 

Jas. Cruikshank, Editor New York Teacher, Albany, N. Y. 

Dr. M'Clellan, Clerk of the Board of Education, Paterson, N. J. 

Emerson W. Iveyes was chosen Chairman of the General Committee, and 
Prof. D. H. Cochran Secretary. 

The following gentlemen were appointed as a special committee on the Ee- 
port to be rendered at the close of the examination : 

Prof. W. F. Phelps, Trenton, N. J. 
Prof. D. H. Cochran, Albany, N. Y. 
Hon. David N. Camp, New Britain, Conn. 
Tiios. F. Harrison, Esq., New York City. 
H. B. Wilbur, M.D., Syracuse, N. Y. 
W. Nicoll, Esq., Suffolk Co., L. I. 
Geo. L, Farnham, Esq., Syracuse, N. Y. 



^ 



v^ 



OSWEGO EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION. 



On calling the meeting to order, the Secretary of the Board of Education, 

E. A. Sheldon, Esq., addressed the Committee of Examination as follows : 

• 

Gentlemen, — It is perhaps clue to you as well as ourselves to 
state more definitely the object for which we have ^nvited you 
to come here from different and distant portions of the country ; 
and, first, we desire distinctly and emphatically to say it is not 
to exhibit our schools. 

For more than eight years we have been striving to improve 
them ; and when we compare them with what they were eight 
years ago, at the time of their organization, we feel that decided 
progress has been made ; but never have their deficiencies been 
so apparent as at the present moment. "Whatever their im- 
provement may have been, it certainly has not kept pace with 
our idea of what they ought to be. 

We have rather asked you here to examine into a system of 
instruction which we have been endeavoring to incorporate into 
our schools, for the origin of which we claim no credit. We 
do not claim that the principles of this system are new in this 
country. For years they have been quietly and almost imper- 
ceptibly creeping mto our educational theories, and in an isolated 
and disjointed may, one here and another there, they have made 
their way more or less into our best schools ; and those schools 
which have been taught most fully in accordance with these 
principles, with scarcely a dissenting voice, we are wont to re- 
gard as our best schools. Good teachers every where are work- 
ing more or less in accordance with some one or more of these 
principles, modified, perhaps, in some degree ; and thus they 
have been preparing the way for the introduction of these prin- 
ciples, embodied into a system of primary education of which 
they constitute the very web and woof. It is this feature which 
we claim as new in this country. We have never had any sys- 
tem of primary education based on sound philosophical j)rinci- 
ples practically carried out in a definite and well-arranged cur- 



4 OSWEGO EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION. 

riculum. Whether such is the system to which we now call 
your attention we leave for you to judge, and it is for this pur- 
pose we have presumed to invite you here to-day. So much 
importance do we attach to the establishment of this system of 
primary instruction in our own country, that, should your judg- 
ment, after a careful investigation, accord with our own, formed 
from what we regard as a fair experiment of it in our schools, 
we are confident no one can but feel that the results will fully 
justify the call we have made upon your time and generosity. 

In such an event, it can but lead to a complete revolution in 
our methods of teaching in this country, as also in the profession 
of teaching itself, or, rather, it will mcike teaching a profession 
— a title it has yet to earn. 

Another and subordinate object we had in view was to con- 
vey to the educators of the country a clearer and more definite 
idea as to what this system, now popularly called Object Teach- 
ing, is. There is at present certainly a very vague and indefi- 
nite, not to say erroneous idea both of its principles and prac- 
tice. We trust this meeting may result in throwing more light 
upon this subject, and, if approved, in adopting measures to re- 
move obstacles now in the way of its progress, and inaugura- 
ting measures for its successful and permanent introduction into 
the schools of this country. 

We desire not to occupy one moment of your time and atten- 
tion that may better be devoted to investigation ; but thus much 
it seemed to us desirable to say, and we now leave the examina- 
tion in your hands, and you will pursue such a course for the 
accomplishment of the object of your visit as to you may seem 
best. To facilitate business, we have arranged a progi-amme, 
which we thought might enable the Committee to accomplish 
the most in the shortest space of time. This you will adopt or 
reject, in part or in whole, as you deem best. We have endeav- 
ored to arrange it so as to show both results and methods. We 
hope the Committee will consider, however, that both children 
and teachers are yet but novices in these methods of giving and 
receiving instruction, and the same results must not be expected 
as a full course of training would present. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. 



The Committee selected by the Board of Education of the 
city of Oswego to attend an examination of the primary schools 
of that city, held on the 11th, 12th, and 13th days of February, 
1862, with special reference to an investigation of the system 
of " Object Teaching" recently introduced into said schools, and 
to an expression of opinion thereon, beg leave respectfully to 

REPORT, 

That the system in question is designed and claimed to be in 
accordance with those principles so prominently exemplified by 
the great Swiss edpcator, Henry Pestalozzi, who lived and labor- 
ed during the last half of the eighteenth century. Of him the 
Hon. Henry Barnard justly remarks that, " Although his per- 
sonal labors were confined to his native country, and their imme- 
diate influence was weakened by many defects of character, still, 
his general views of education were so sound and just that they 
are now adopted by teachers who never read a word of his life 
or writings, and by many who never even heard his name. They 
have become the common property of teachers and educators 
throughout the world." 

These principles lie down deep in the nature of man. They 
recognize the great truth that this nature is threefold — material, 
intellectual, moral, and that it has its laws of growth and devel- 
opment. Pestalozzi believed, as we believe and know, that hu- 
man beings possess afiections and a moral sense as well as rea- 
son, and intelHgence, and sensation. 

NATUKE OF EDUCATION. 

He therefore assumed /a2^/i and love as the only true founda- 
tion of a system of education. He asserts that education, in or- 
der to fit man for his destination, must proceed according to nat- 
ural laws ; that it should not act as an arbitrary mediator be- 
tween the child and nature — between man and God — ^but that it 
should assist the course of natural development instead of doing 



4r 
o OSWEGO EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION. 

it violence ; that it should watch and follow its progress, instead 
of attempting to mark out a path agreeably to some vague pre- 
conceived system. He sought to develop and strengthen the fac- 
ulties of the child by a steady course of excitement to self-activ- 
ity, with a limited degree of assistance to his efforts. 

He aimed to discover the proper point for commencing the ed- 
ucation of the young, and then to proceed in a slow and gradual, 
but progressive and unbroken course from one step to another, 
always waiting until the preceding steps should have a certain 
degree of distinctness in the mind of the child before entering 
upon the presentation of a new step. 

DISTINCTIVE PRINCIPLES. 

Pestalozzi believed that education in its essence consists in the 
harmonious and uniform development of everij faculty, so that 
the body should not he in advance of the mind nor the mind of 
the body, nor shoidd the affections be neglected; and that prompt- 
itude and sTcill in action shoidd, as far as possible, Jceep pace 
with the acquisition of knowledge. He reqi^jred close attention 
and special reference to the individual peculiarities of each child 
and of each sex, as well as to the characteristics of the people 
among whom he lived, to the end that each might be educated 
for that sphere of activity and usefulness to which the Creator 
had destined him. 

He regarded Form, Number, and Language as the essential 
condition of definite and distinct knowledge, and insisted that 
these elements shoidd be taught loith the utmost simplicity, com- 
2wehe7isiveness, and mutual cooinection. 

Pestalozzi, as well as Basedow, desired that instruction shoidd 
begin with the simple perception of external objects and their re- 
lations. He wished that the art of observing should be acquired. 
He thought the thing p)erceived of less imp>orta7ice than the cul- 
tivation of the perceptive powers, which should enable the child 
to observe completely, and to exhaust as far as possible the sub- 
jects which should he brought before him. He maintained that 
every subject of instruction should become an exercise of thought, 
and that lessons on fonn, size, number, place, etc., would give 
the best occasion for it. 

He thought highly of arithmetic as a means of strengthening 
the mind, and he also introduced Geometry into the elementary 
schools, with the arts of drawing, designing, and modeling grow- 
ing out of it. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. h 

He would train the ha?id, the eye, the touch, and the senses 
generally, without which there can be no high executive power 
in the arts of civilized life. 

He was opposed to the lifeless repetition of the rules of gram- 
mar, but rather aimed at a development of the kacs of language 
from loithin — at a knowledge of its internal nature, structure, 
and peculiar spirit — thus affording the means not only for culti- 
vating the intellect, but for improving and elevating the affec- 
tions. He, as well as other educators of his time, introduced vo- 
cal music into the circle of school studies on account of its pow- 
erful influence upon the heart. Not satisfied with singing by 
rote, he included in his course of instruction the elementary prin- 
ciples of music — Rhythm, Melody, and Dynamics. 

He discouraged that abuse of the Socratic method which at- 
tempted to draxo something out of children before they had re- 
ceived any Jcnoioledge ,' but, on the contrary, recommended in 
the earliest periods of instruction the established method of dic- 
tation by the teacher and reproduction by the pupil. 

Pestalozzi strongly repudiated the opinion that religious in- 
struction should he exclusively addressed to the understanding. 
He showed that religion lies deep in the hearts of men, and that 
it should not be so much enstamped from withoiat as developed 
from within; that the basis of religious emotion is to be found 
in the childish dis2)osition to love, to gratitude, to veneration, to 
obedience and confidence toioard parents; that these feelings 
shoidd be cidtivated, strengthened, and directed toward God; 
and that religion should be formally treated of, at a later period, 
in connection with the feelings thus excited. As he required the 
mother to direct the first development of all the faculties of her 
child, he assigned to her especially the task of first cultivating 
the religious feelings. He thought that mutual affection ought 
to reign between the educator and the pupil, whether at the home 
or school, in order to render education effectual and useful. He 
was not, therefore, disposed to uphold school despotism, nor did 
he approve of special incentives addressed to emulation, prefer- 
ring that the children should be taught to find their own highest 
and best reward in the delights of knowledge and in the con- 
sciousness of duty done. 

THESE PRINCIPLES ■WORTHY OF ATTENnON". 

Such were the leading views and principles of this truly great 
man ; and, with all the faults in their practical application by 



8 OSWEGO EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION. 

himself in the eccentricity of his character, they are eminently 
worthy of the profound study alike of the parent, the teacher, 
the philanthropist, and the Christian. They constitute unques- 
tionably the germs of that great system of means for the com- 
plete evolution of the varied and complex forces of our common 
nature which is to be — perchance which already is. 

NATURAL ORDER OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE FACULTIES. 

The Committee believe that these principles seem to imply the 
existence of a great comprehensive law or order of development 
of the human faculties, together with a corresponding order of 
succession and adaptation in the scheme of truth which must 
constitute the objects to which these expanding faculties must 
address themselves as the inexorable condition of their develop- 
ment and growth. Without stopping to argue this proposition, 
but desiring merely to suggest it, the Committee commend it to 
the profound consideration of their educational brethren every 
where. If this proposition be true, it lies at the basis of all ed- 
ucational inquiry, while its complete elucidation will essentially 
determine the character of all proper educational courses and 
methods of procedure. 

What the character of the primary school should be, what its 
subjects and methods of instruction, depends upon the prelimi- 
nary questions: 

What is the character and destiny of the beings to be trained 
therein ? What is the condition of their physical, mental, and 
emotional powers ? and what kind of studies, what description 
of knowledge, what exercises are best suited to meet the wants 
and exigencies of their jDresent, while having reference, also, to 
their future condition and circumstances ? 

SENSATION AND PERCEPTION. 

The Committee believe it to be the generally received opinion 
that, in childhood, all positive knowledge comes through sensa- 
tion and perception. Sensation arises from the contact of our 
senses with the outer material world. Perception is the refer- 
ence of a sensation to its cause. Sensations lead, through ob- 
servations, to conceptions. Conceptions form the basis of our 
reasoning, and, through reason, we are led to discover our rela- 
tions to the material world, to our fellow-men, and to the Cre- 
ator ; and, finally, the will, as the executive power, enables us to 
act according to the dictates of reason, of conscience, and of duty. 



REPORT OP THE COMMITTEE. g 

We have thus hinted at what many believe to be the natural 
order of evolution of the faculties : 

1st. Perception through sensation. 

2d. Conception through observation. 

3d. Reasoning upon the basis of our conceptions, ascending 
from the concrete to the abstract, from the simple to the com- 
plex, from the known to the unknown. 

4th. Volition, according to the conclusion reached by reason, 
acting in harmony with the conscience and the nobler emotions 
and impulses of our nature. 

TEUE OEDER OF STUDIES. 

Is there now an order of succession of studies, or of the sci- 
ences, corresponding to the order of evolution of the faculties ? 
This has been conclusively shown, we think, by President Hill, 
Professor Joseph Le Conte, and others, and endorsed by the 
highest scientific and literary authorities of the age. The ques- 
tion may be determined from at least three different stand-points : 

1st. From the history of the rise and progress of knowledge 
among men. 

2d. From a cai'eful examination of the relations, connections, 
and dependencies of the different special sciences to each other. 

3d. From an investigation of the adaj^tations of the different 
sciences to the progressive wants of the faculties in every stage 
of their development. 

All these fields have been explored by able men, and, from 
whicliever stand-j)oint the investigation proceeds, the conclusions 
reached are essentially the same, and they seem strikingly to 
confirm each other. Without going farther into this question, 
it may be remarked that, while the perceptive faculties are the 
earliest to manifest themselves in the order of time, so those sci- 
ences which address themselves the most directly to these fac- 
ulties, to wit, those which deal with ideas of space, form, size, 
number, place, weight, color, etc., are the simplest of all, lie at 
the basis of all, and are best adapted of all, as experience and 
reason alike show, to meet the demands of these early stages in 
the education of the young. 

LAWS OF CHILDHOOD. 

In childhood, all is activity ; the senses are keenly alive to ev- 
ery impression made upon them ; the spirit of inquiry is awake, 
and runs abroad in every direction in search of knowledge ; the 



10 



OSWEGO EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION. 



perceptive powers are at work — they must be directed, and, if 
possible, sharpened ; the imagination riots wildly in childish 
dreams — it must be chastened and corrected by deliberate and 
sober appeals to facts, to actual things, and thus gradually en- 
ticed to its appropriate work of aiding in the formation of cor- 
rect conceptions ; the affections are fresh and warm ; the confid- 
ing innocent desires to live and move in an atmosphere of kind- 
ness and love ; the bodily powers, though comparatively weak, 
are restless, and ever panting for Avholesome emj^loyment. 

THE TP.UE EDUCATIONAL METHOD. 

The question is. How are these conditions, so perfectly normal, 
to be met ? How shall the development of the child, heretofore 
assisted by Nature's own method, be continued and perfected ? 
How shall his young nature, leaping and bounding in joyousness 
and love, reveling in the pleasure of knowledge, be preserved in 
its freshness, and vigor, and purity ? Not, surely, by forced and 
unmeaning strifes with mere words and phrases, not by the me- 
chanical drudgery of loading the memory with dry formulas and 
senseless rules, not by the mastication of rudimental books, nor 
by those endless strijjes which have no healing power. 

This question, in the opinion of the Committee, can be solved 
only by eflbrts in the direction to which these suggestions tend. 
Our subjects and methods of instruction must be naturalized. 
The course of true education is the course of nature. Man's 
method, to be effective, must follow God's method. As surely 
as our Divine Father has a plan in creation, so surely has he also 
a plan in education. By the light of history and revelation we 
see how he is guiding, instructing, educating the human race 
through the ages. Aided by the experiences, the discoveries, 
the inventions, the sufferings, the reverses of past generations, 
we have become exalted to Heaven in respect to our rights, our 
privileges, and blessings. 

So children should be taught, as far as possible, by their o\\ai 
actual experience, and not so much by mere dicta, not so much 
by taking on trust what others say, and write, and print, but by 
more frequent and persistent intercourse, or experience, if you 
please, with those objects, qualities, and properties, the existence 
of which gives to language so much of its force and utility. 

The Committee have thought it due, alike to the occasion 
w^hich has called them together, as well as to the imjDOi'tant move- 
ment which has here been inaugurated, to give expression some- 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. H 

what at length to the foregoing views. They are too well aware 
of the obstacles which nearly every new enterprise, however no- 
ble, is doomed to encounter, not to embrace an oj^portunity so 
grave as the present to give it a substantial and hearty sujDport. 

AN IMPOETANT EEVOLUTION AT HAND. 

The examinations which it has been their high privilege to 
witness during the present week have impressed them with the 
conviction that we are on the eve of a great and important rev- 
olution in the education of our country. The system which has 
been developed from the principles herein before stated is yet es- 
sentially foreign. And as it was a doctrine of Pestalozzi him- 
self that education, to be true, must have constant reference to 
the character of the j^eople among whom it is to be dispensed, 
so it is evident that the system which has been exhibited before 
us is yet to be somewhat modified — Americanized — to meet the 
peculiar characteristics of our people and country. Systems and 
methods must change, " but i:)rinciples are in their nature eter- 
nal," says Professor Crosby ; " and it is their office to guide and 
direct amid all the vicissitudes of circumstance, condition, event, 
fortune." So, while adhering to the unchanging dicta of well- 
grounded principle, we would joyfully accept in the system of 
methods whatever is suited to our special wants, characteristics, 
and circumstances as a people. 

SUCCESS OF THE EXPERIMENT AT OSWEGO. 

How well the methods presented by the exhibitions from the 
Oswego primary schools are adapted to carry out the theory 
upon which tliese methods are based, the Committee have en- 
deavored to give their professional brethren and fellow-citizens 
at a distance the means of judging, by presenting an abstract of 
each exercise, together with the precise aim of the teacher in 
each case. The ages of the children, together with the grades 
of the classes, will be found stated in the proper places. The 
number of classes presented will also be learned by an examina- 
tion of the accompanying statement. It will be observed that a 
wide range of topics was developed by the classes, embracing 
lessons of various grades, on Form, Size, Weight, Color, Place, 
Number, Language, Objects, Plants, Animals, Shells, and includ- 
ing also exercises in Phonic Reading and Gymnastics. 

The Committee are also most happy in bearing testimony to 
the universal fidelity of the teachers and superintendent to that 



22 OSWEGO EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION. 

cardinal principle of Faith and Love which the great Pestalozzi 
affirmed must be the basis of all true education. The evidences 
of mutual kindness, respect, and affection between teachers and 
tauo-ht have been too palpable to be questioned. Let these de- 
voted teachers rest assured that they are laying up imperishable 
treasures of future joy and gladness, alike for themselves and the < 
long procession of the generations which shall rise up to call 
them blessed. 

[Previous to commencing the exercises of the examination, the Secretary of 
the Board of Education stated that the primary schools of Oswego are divided 
into three classes, called A, B, and C. The C class is the lowest, B next, and 
the A class the highest. The children, on entering school, are placed in the C 
class, where they remain under the same teacher for one year, near the end of 
which time an examination takes place, and those who are sufficiently ad- 
vanced are promoted to the B class at the commencement of the succeeding 
term, where they remain another year ; they are examined again, and promoted 
to the A class ; toward the end of the thu-d year they are examined for promo- 
tions to the junior schools.] 

EXAMINATION EXERCISES. 

The first exercise witnessed by the Committee was a review of the C class, 
primary. Ages of children, 6 to 7 years. 

LESSON ON FORM. 

The children stood in a semicircular line on one side of the table, on which 
were placed several of the more common solids, as a siahere, a cube, a cone, etc. 
The teacher called upon the children to distinguish diiferent solids, as the 
sphere, hemisphere, cyUnder, cone, and cube, and to give their names. Thet, 
holding up a cylinder, she asked, "What is this called?" 

Children. "A cylinder." 

Teacher. " Yes, this is a cylinder ; and when we see any object of this shape 
we say it is cylindrical. Now look about the room, and see if you can see any 
thing that is of this shape." 

C. The stove-pipe — the post. 

T. Yes ; and because the stove-pipe and the post are of this shape, we call 
them — 

a "Cylindrical." 

In this manner the terras spherical, conical, etc., were presented to the chil- 
dren. 

The teacher placed a cube before the children, and requested them to name 
objects of that form ; then a sphere, and to name objects of a spherical form, 
etc. 

Several of the solids being placed on the table, the teacher naming objects, 
as orange, stick of candy, church spire, etc., the children would say which solid 
they resembled in shape. 

To show that the children understood the terms /ace and surface, they were 
requested to touch the surface of a sphere, the outside of a sphere, the faces of 
a cube and of a cylinder ; then to point out the plane and curved faces of dif- 
ferent solids ; then to take solids, and tell by what faces they were bounded. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. J 3 

The manner of conducting this exercise, and the familiarity manifested with 
the subject, gave evidence that the children possessed a knowledge of it other 
than that derived from the words themselves. The second exercise was a 

LESSON ON SIZE. 

Eeview of C class, primary. Ages of children, 5 to 7. They had attended 
school nine months ; have had instruction in size during some eight weeks, 
about twenty minutes per day. 

The children were requested to hold their forefingers one inch apart while 
the teacher measured the space between them. 

Then children were required to draw lines on the blackboard an inch in length, 
and others to measure them, stating whether too long, too short, or correct. 

Next they were required to tear papers an inch in length ; then to tear them 
two inches in length ; then to fold them three inches in length, and so on, the 
teacher measuring them meanwhile. At least two out of each three tore and 
folded their papers of the exact length named. 

Then the children were requested to draw lines on the blackboard one foot 
in length, then to divide them into twelve inches. 

They readily measured inches, and feet, and yards, both with the rule and 
with the eye, and drew lines representing them, showing that they understood 
the relations of these to each other, as well as the lengths of each. 

FORM AND SIZE. 

Review of A class, primary. Ages of children from 7 to 9. 

Teacher. Find me a solid whose surface is not divided. The children took 
from the table spheres and spheroids. 

Teacher. Find me a solid whose sm-face is divided into two parts or faces — 
one divided into three faces — one divided into six faces. Now a solid with one 
plane and one curved face. 

In each case the children selected the correct object. 

The teacher then called upon one pupil to draw upon the blackboard the 
plane face of a square two inches on a side ; another one of a square six inches 
on a side ; another of a rhomb two inches on each side ; an equal triangle one 
inch on a side ; a plane face of a cylinder three inches in diameter ; a square 
twelve inches on a side. The children then drew lines of various lengths, as 
called for by members of the Committee ; also plane figures of various sizes, and, 
among others, circles two feet in diameter, then of two feet in circumference. 

The teacher called upon the children, one at a time, to select laths of given 
lengths, and place them on the floor so as to represent the elevation of one end 
of a house. Another pupil drew each part of the house on the blackboard as 
it was represented by the laths. 

TUESDAY AFTERNOON. 

LESSON ON FORM. 

Showing the transition from Form to Elementary Geometry. Review of 
C class, junior. Ages of children, 9 to 12. 

The children drew lines on the blackboard, and described them. They rep- 
resented, and then gave definitions of a point, straight line, length, direction, 
and of the distinction between different kinds of angles. 



24 OSWEGO EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION. 

A pupil drew upon the blackboard a horizontal line, and an oblique one in- 
tersecting the first, and then proceeded to demonstrate that, "if two straight 
lines intersect each other, the opposite or vertical angles are equal." In giving 
the demonstration, the pupils used letters to designate the lines and angles. 
At the suggestion of one of the Committee, figures were substituted for the let- 
ters, and one of the same pupils called to demonstrate the proposition. The 
readiness with which the pupil went through with it, using figures in place of 
letters, was very satisfactory to the audience, their approbation being mani- 
fested by applause. 

LESSON ON COLOE. 

Keview of C class. Ages of children, 6 to 8. Object of the lesson — to culti- 
vate the perception of color. 

Worsted, and cards of various colors, were placed upon the table. The teach- 
er called upon one child to select all the reds, and place them together ; anoth- 
er, to select all the yellows, and place them together ; another, the blues ; an- 
other, the greens, etc. 

The children were then requested to name all the red objects that they could 
see in the room ; then those of the other colors successively. 

Next, one child was called upon to name a color, and another to name an 
object of the same color. Then one child would name an object, and another 
name its color. 

DISTINGUISHING SHADES AND TINTS OF BLUE. 

The teacher next proceeded to give a new lesson to the same class, the object 
of which was "to teach the children to distinguish blue, audits shades and 
tints." 

The teacher requested the children to find the bluest of the blue objects on 
the table. They having selected cards which the teacher pronounced correct, 
she took the cards, told them all to close their eyes, then she placed the same 
cards upon the table again among the other blue ones, and requested the chil- 
dren to find them again. When they could readily select the bluest cards, the 
teacher told them that the bluest blue is called the standard Hue. Then the 
children were exercised in finding the standard blue. 

Next, two cards were held up, one dark blue and one light blue, and the chil- 
dren told that the light blue is called a tint of blue, and the dark blue a shade 
q/" Hue — the tint is lighter than the standard blue, and the shade is darker than 
the standard blue. Then the children were exercised in finding tints and shades 
of blue. 

LESSON IN MIXING COLORS. 

Eeview of A class, primaiy. Children from 9 to 10 years of age. 

The children were led to distinguish primaiy, secondary, and tertiary colors 
from mixing colors. The teacher held up vials containing liquids of red, yel- 
low, and blue. She then mixed some of each of the )-ed und yellow liquids, and 
the children said the color produced by the mixture is orange. She then mix- 
ed yellow and blue, and the children said that green had been produced. Then 
she mixed blue and red, and purple was the result. 

The teacher printed the result of each mixture on the blackboard thus : 



EEPOET OF THE COMMITTEE. J5 

First Colors, or Primaries. Second Colors, or Secondaries. 

Eed + Yellow = Orange. 

Blue + Yellow — Green. 

Blue + Eed = Purple. 

Next she proceeded to show how the idea and term tertiary is derived from 
the secondaries by mixing the secondaries, and printing the result on the board 
as before : 

Secondaries. Third Colors, or Tertiaries. 

Green + Orange = Citrine. 

Orange + Purple = Russet. 

Purple + Green — Olive. 

After the children had read over in concert what had been printed on the 
board, it was erased, and the pupils were required to state from memory what 
colors are produced by mixing primaries, with the names of each secondary ; 
also, what by mixing the secondaries, and the name of each tertiary. An ex- 
ercise on Harmony of Colors was then given to the same class of children. They 
were requested to select two colors that would look well together, and place 
them side by side ; then two were placed together that do not harmonize. Dur- 
ing these exercises, the teacher printed on the board. 

Primary yellow harmonizes with secondary jawr/jfe. 
" red " " " green. 

" hlue " " " orange. 

This was read by the pupils, then erased, and the individuals were called 
upon to state what color will harmonize with these several colors, as their 
names were respectively given. 

TUESDAY EVENING. 

The exercises were held in DooHttle Hall, and were witnessed by a large au- 
dience. First there was given a 

LESSON ON OBJECTS— 5th STEP, 
to the B class, junior school, the aim of which was to lead the children to dis- 
tinguish acids from alkalies, and to show some of the effects of each. 

A class of boys and girls were arranged upon the stage so that they could ob- 
serve the vials of liquids and solids upon tlie table in the centre. After intro- 
ductory remarks by the teacher, alluding to the classification of children in 
school according to their knowledge, she requested one to arrange the vials upon 
the table into classes. He placed the vials containing solids in one group, and 
those containing liquids in another. The teacher remarked that, although that 
was one way to classify them, yet there was a better way, and that was by tast- 
ing, placing those which have a similar taste in the same class. 

The childi-en were each given some cream of tartar to taste ; they pronounced 
the taste sour. The name of the substance was written on the blackboard. 
Then they were given some sal soda to taste, and they said it tasted " bitter and 
burning." The name of this was written on another pai"t of the board. The 
teacher then told the children that we called those substances which taste sour 
adds, and wrote the word acids over cream of tartar. She then told them that 
the name for those substances which have a "bitter, burning taste," is alkalies. 



2g OSWEGO EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION. 

This word was written over sal soda. Then the children were given some vin- 
egar to jtaste, and required to tell in which column its name should be written. 
They gave "acids." The teacher proceeded in a similar manner with ley, 
pearlash, tartaric acid, and soda, and the children designated the column in 
which the word should be placed. Some oxalic acid was produced, and the 
children told that it was poison, hence should not be tasted, but that it also was 
sour, and requested them to name the column in which its name should be writ- 
ten. The words on the blackboard were written thus : 

ACIDS. ALKALIES. 

Cream of tartar. Sal soda. 

Vinegar. Ley. 

Tartaric acid. Pearlash. 

Oxalic acid. Soda. 

The children having learned a distinction between acids and alkalies, the 
teacher produced a vegetable dye, obtained by boiling a purple or red cabbage 
in water. She poured equal quantities into two glasses. Into one of these she 
poured some acid, and into the other a little alkali. The children were re- 
quired to observe the effects of the acid and of the alkali upon the vegetable 
dye, and then to describe these effects. 

Children. The acid turns the vegetable dye to a red. The alkali changes it 
to a green. 

Teacher. Now what can you say of the taste of acids? 

C. They taste sour. 

The teacher now wrote on the board, " Acids have a sour taste " 

T. What can you say of the effect of acids upon a vegetable dye ? 

C Acids turn vegetable dyes to red. 

The teacher wrote this on the board also. 

T. Now what can you say of the taste of alkalies ? 

C. They have a bitter, burning taste. 

T. We call this bitter, burning taste of alkalies an acrid taste. What do we 
call the taste of alkalies ? 

C. An acrid taste. 

The teacher wrote on the board, "Alkalies have an acrid taste." 

T. Wliat can you say of the effect of alkalies upon vegetable dyes ? 

C. Alkalies change vegetable dyes to green. 

This was also written on the board. 

Afterward the red and green dyes were mixed, when the whole assumed its 
original color. After trying similar examples with other acids and alkalies 
upon the purple water or vegetable dye, the children were told that acids and 
alkalies neutralize or destroy each other. The teacher then wrote on the black- 
board, 

Acids and alkalies, ivhen mixed together, netdi-alize each other. 

Next a bottle partly filled with soft water was produced, and a little soft soap 
added, when it was given to the pupils to shake. Soapsuds were produced. A 
few drops of acid were then added to the contents of this bottle, and on shaking 
it again the suds disappeared. Then a little ley was poured into it, and on 
being shaken suds were again produced. Then the children were led by an- 
other experiment to perceive that acids and alkalies neutralize each other when 
mixed. 



KEPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. 



17 



A few other experiments were tried, illustrating in similar methods the proc- 
esses of teaching children things and ideas before the words of description are 
given. Whenever the terms or words given by the pupils in describing what 
they saw were inappropriate, these were corrected by the teacher.* 

WEDNESDAY MORNING. 

LESSON ON ANIMALS.— THE SEAL.— 3d STEP. 

This was a new lesson, given to children of the average age of eight years, 
from the C class, primary school. The object of the lesson was to show the 
children how the parts of the animal are adapted to the habits of it. 

The teacher held before the children a picture of the seal, upon land, by the 
side of open water. 

T. Where, in this picture, do you see the animal ? 

C. On the land. 

T. What do you see near it ? 

C. Water. 

T. Where do you think it lives ? 

C In the water. 

T. Does it spend all of its time in the water ? 

C No ; it spends part of its time on land. 

T. What other animals live in the water ? 

C. Fishes. 

T. Fish breathe by taking the air from the water by means of their gills. 
The water and air passes into its mouth, and the water passes out through the 
gills. The seal breathes as we do, therefore he can not remain under the wa- 
ter as fish do. His head must be above the water to breathe. The seal feeds 
on fish. Now can you tell me why he goes into the water at all ? 
- C. To catch fishes for food. 

The teacher now printed upon the blackboard, "The seal can live in water 
and on land." This was read by the children. They now pointed out in the 
picture the parts of the seal, and described their shape. In developing the idea 
of round, the teacher showed the children a round and a flat object, and they 
named the one which most nearly resembled the shape of the body. 

In developing the idea of tapering, the children were requested to point out 
the largest part of the body, and the smallest. 

T. Why does the seal need a round, tapering body ? 

To develop this idea, they were asked which boat would move through the 
water most easily, one with a blunt end or one with a sharp end ? Their atten- 
tion was then called to the small head and tapering shoulders of the seal, and 
thus to its adaptation for moving through the water. The teacher then print- 
ed on the board, 

77(6 body of the seal is round and tapering. 
This was read by the children in concert. 

A picture of a fish was now shown, and the children requested to observe its 
shape. The teacher then led them to compare its organs of progressive motion 

* At the close of thw lesson, a paper, written by Miss Jones, of London, at present the prin- 
cipal of the Training School in Oswego, was read ; also an address was delivered by N. A. 
Calkins, of New York. Both of these papei-s may be found at the close of this report. 

B 



li 



OSWEGO EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION. 



with those of the seal, and to obsei-ve the adaptation of these organs to the spe- 
cial purposes for which they are designed. 

C. The seal has broad, flat feet, which it uses to aid it in swimming. 

This was printed on the blackboard. 

T. Why would not fins suit the seal as well as they do the fishes ? 

C. Because the seal could not go on land with fins. 

The children were then led to compare the covering of the seal with that of 
the fish, to show the adaptation of the warm fur to its mode of life. Their at- 
tention was also directed to the inteUigence and docility of the seal, and the- 
resemblance of its head, in shape, to that of the dog. His disposition was com- 
pared with that of the dog ; humane feelings excited by describing the manner 
of hunting and killing the seals, and kindness inculcated. 

As a summary, the children read what had been written on the board ; then 
repeated it after it had been erased. 

LESSON ON HORNS OF ANIMALS.— 4th STEP. 

A class, primary. Average ages 10 years. 

The object of the lesson was to give a general idea of horns, their form, po- 
sition, and uses. 

Children were requested to name animals having horns. Afterward the 
teacher presented to them pictures of a cow, goat, and a deer, and the class 
were requested to observe them carefully, and to state how their horns differ. 

C. The cow's horns have no branches ; the goat's horns have no branches ; 
the deer's horns have branches. 

T. Look at the form of the horns. 

C. The horns differ in form. 

To lead the children to the idea of horns differing in position, lines were 
drawn upon the blackboard in different positions. When this idea had been 
gained, their attention was directed to the position of the horns of the cow. 
These were described as being placed on each side of the head, and slantinc/ vji. 
ward and outward. 

The horns of thei goat were described as jilaced on the top of the head, and 
slant upward and backward. 

The horns of the deer are pTaced on the top of its head, and slant in different di- 
rections. These descriptions were printed on the bkickboard. 

To develop the idea of the shape of the cow's horns, a pair of horns was pre- 
sented, and the children requested to describe them. 

C. The horns of the cow are round, large at the base, and tapering. 

The teacher not having a pair of goat's horns present, pointed to the picture, 
and told the children that the horns of the goat are more slender, and less 
curved than those of the cow. 

Deer's horns were shown, and described as spreading out like the brandies 
of a tree. The children were led to observe that the cow's horns are hollow, 
while those of the deer are solid. They were told that the goat's horns were 
also hollow ; and that, while the cow's and goat's horns were fixed, or remained 
permanent upon the heads of these animals, the horns of the deer are shed ev- 
ery year, new ones growing each summer. 

The attention of the children was called to the uses of horns to animals as 
weapons of defense, and of their uses to man in the manufacture of combs and 
various other articles. 



REPORT or THE COMMITTEE. I9 

LESSON ON SHELLS— 3d STEP OF OBJECTS. 

Given to a C class, primary ; ages of children 5 to 6 years. 

Object of the lesson was to lead the children to observe the parts of the shell, 
also to perceive the appropriateness of the names given to the parts. 

The teacher, holding up a shell before the class, told them that an animal 
once lived in that shell, and then asked, "What do you live in?" 

Children. Houses. 

T. This was the house of an animal. Now I want you to look at it, and see 
if you can find different parts of this shell. James may point to some part of it. 

The boy touched the small point at one end. The teacher said this part is 
called the ajiex of the shell. Now point to the apex of this cone ; of the pyra- 
mid. The word apex was now printed on the blackboard. 

Mary may touch some other part of the shell. She put her finger upon the 
largest part, or body of it ; and the teacher said, this is called the body of the 
shell, and printed the word on the board. 

Pointing to the whorl on the shell, the teacher said, " Look at this ; see how 
it winds around the shell ; this part looks as if it whirled around, so we call it 
the whorl." This word was also printed on the board. 

The opening of the shell was pointed at, and the children asked to give it a 
name. No one replied, and the teacher requested a boy to open his mouth, 
and the other children to look at it, upon which several of them suggested the 
word mouth as a good name for the opening of the shell. This was printed on 
the board, and the children told that it is the name for that part of the shell. 

Next the edges of the mouth were pointed at, and the childi-en referred to 
parts of their own mouths for a name. Lips was readily given, and printed on 
the board. 

The groove leading to the mouth was pointed at, and the children told to 
call it a canal. The word was then printed. 

The attention of the children was directed to the lower part of the shell, coh- 
taining the canal, and the children asked if they had ever seen any part of a 
bird that resembled it in shape. "The bird's beak," was the reply. "That 
is right; and we will call this the beak of the shell," said the teacher. This 
word was also printed on the board. 

A child was now called to take the shell and point out the parts as the chil- 
dren named them. The teacher pointed out the parts, and the children named 
them. 

LESSON ON SHELLS— 4th STEP OF OBJECTS. 

Given to an A class, primary, ten children. Ages 8 to 10. 

Object of the lesson, to show the use of shells, their formation, and general 
classification. 

The children were shown several shells, and asked where they are found. 

Children. On the lake-shore, the sea-shore, and in rivers. 

T. How are shells obtained from the sea ? 

C. The waves wash them on shore. 

T. The creatures found inside of the shell are called moUusks. The word 
was written on the blackboard, and the children told that it means soft. To 
develop this idea, the children were directed to press their fingers upon their 



20 



OSWEGO EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION. 



cheeks, then upon their forehead, and to tell how they feel. They were asked 
whether they had seen oysters, and how they feel ; and why they feel soft ? 
The answer obtained was that the oyster has no bones. 

T. What can we say of the oyster because it has no bones ? 

C. It is boneless. 

The teacher printed on the board, and the children repeated together, 
Mollusks are soft and boneless. 

The children were referred to the white cold fluid or blood of the oyster, and 
it was compared with their own red warm blood. 

The teacher wrote on the blackboard. 

The blood of' the mollusk is cold and colorless, 
and the children repeated it together. 

The shells were given to the children to examine, and see if they could tell 
of what materials they are made, and who made them. To develop the idea 
of their formation, a piece of chalk was shown, and the children told that one 
of the substances of which the shell is made was like that. They were asked 
if a shell made of so brittle a substance would be strong. The children were 
now told that the shell is made of lime which is obtained from the water, and 
this is mixed with a gluey substance, which the mollusk obtains from a portion 
of its own body, to stick it together. They were shown the smooth, polished 
outside of the shell, and told that the mantle which covers it deposits a sub- 
stance which hardens and forms the beautiful polished surface. The children 
were also told how the little mollusk increases the size of its shell from year to 
year, as the animal itself grows larger, by making additions on the edge of the 
shell. Sometimes, when the shells are dashed against the rocks by the waves 
and broken, the mollusk repairs the broken part. 

The idea that the shells are a means of defense for the mollusk was devel- 
oped, and the teacher wrote on the board. 

Shells serve as a house and armor to the mollush, 
and the children repeated it. Following this, the idea of God's wisdom and 
goodness was presented in providing every thing so wisely for these little animals. 

The teacher also gave some exercise in the classification of shells into uni- 
valves, bivalves, and multivalves. And, as a summary, the pupils read from the 
blackboard. 

Shells are inhabited hy animals called mollusks. 

Mollusks are soft and boneless. 

The blood of the mollusk is cold and colorless. 

Shells are composed of lime and a kind of gluey substance. 

Shells serve as a house and armor to the mollusk. 

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. 

Exercises were held in the school-room. 

LESSON ON PLACE. 

A review of a C class, primary. Ages of children 6 to 7 years. 
The Object of the lesson was to distinguish and define place, as nearer, farther, 
between, to the right, to the left. 

2d. To represent objects in these relations. 

3d. To distinguish the cardinal and semi-cardinal points. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. 21 

First, objects were placed on a table, and the children requested to observe 
the position of each, after which the teacher would remove them, and call upon 
individuals to put them in the same position again. Then the position of these 
objects on the table were represented by drawing on a slate held in a horizontal 
position. Then the same positions were represented by drawings on the black- 
board. Children wei"e called upon to point with their fingers ; also to walk in 
different directions ; also to tell in what direction they must walk to go from 
their seat to some given part of the room. The teacher would name a point 
of compass, and request the children to point toward it, while she would point 
in some other direction. This made each pupil think and act for himself. 

LESSON ON PLACE. 

Given to the A Class, primaiy. A review. Children, average age 9 years. 

An outline map of the city of Oswego was placed before the class, and the 
children were required to point out the various localities, tell the distance of one 
from another, the direction in which a person must go in proceeding from one 
place to the other. The outline map was drawn on a scale of one foot to the 
mile ; the pupils ascertained distances, after estimating by the eye, by taking 
a tape measure and ascertaining the number of feet from one point to the other. 

A drawing of the school-room made to a scale, previously placed upon the 
blackboard, was exhibited. 

Rivers, lakes, canals, dams, locks in canals, etc., were described by the pupils 
in answer to questions by members of the Committee. 

LESSON ON NUMBER. 

A review of the C class, primary. Ages of children 6 to 7 years. 

The object of this exercise was to show how addition, subtraction, and multi- 
plication are worked out with objects. 

The children were arranged in front of a shelf containing pebbles in boxes 
or compartments. The teacher said to the first pupil, "I will give you 1 peb- 
ble ; how many must you add to it to make ten ?" 

To the next she said, "I will give you 3 pebbles ; how many must you add 
to these to make ten?" 

To the next, "I will give you 2 pebbles; how many must you add to make 
ten?" 

The children would proceed to take other pebbles from the boxes, and count- 
ing, add enough to make ten. As each finished the number, the hand would 
be raised. When all had completed the number assigned, the teacher com- 
menced by asking the first pupil, ' ' How many did I give you ? " 

Child. "One." 

T. "How many did you add to make ten?" 

a "Nine." 

T. (To the next pupil.) "How many did I give you?" 

a "Three." 

T. "How many did you add to make ten?" 

C. "Seven." 

In this manner the teacher kept all the pupils at work, and each at work on 
a separate problem. Subsequently the pupils were requested to see in how 
many ways they could arrange given numbers. One was to arrange the num- 



22 



OSWEGO EDUCATIONAL CONVENTlOX. 



hQvJive in as many ways as possible, as 4 and 1, 2 and 3, 2 and 2 and 1, 2 
and 1 and I and 1, 1 and 3 and 1, etc. Another was told to arrange six, an- 
other seven, another eight, in as many ways as they could with the pebbles. 

The teacher gave them numbers, and then told them to take away less num- 
bers, as, "I give you 8 pebbles; take away 6, and tell me how many re- 
main," etc. 

The teacher having placed six marks on the board thus, | | | | | | , rub- 
bed out two, and asked, " What have I done?" 

C. "Rubbed out two marks." 

T. " How many marks remain ?" 

C. "Four marks." 

T. " What may you say, then ?" 

C. " Two from six leaves four." 

Then seven and eight marks were treated in the same way. 

Again, the teacher gave them 2 and 2 and 2, to state how many 3 twos are. 
Then she asked how many are 4 twos, 2 threes, 5 twos. In each instance the 
pupils represented the numbers by arranging pebbles in groups corresponding 
with these numbers. 

This exercise was followed by a lesson to show how children were first taught 
multiplication. The teacher placed two pebbles on the table, then two more, 
and asked, "How many pebbles were on the table?" 

C. "Four pebbles." 

The teacher then made two marks on the board, then two more, thus: 
II II, and asked, "How many are two marks and two marks?" 

C. "Four marks." 

Then the teacher placed three pebbles on the table, then three more, and 
asked, "How many pebbles are on the table?" 

C. "Six pebbles." 

She then made three marks thus, | | | | I I > ^^'^ asked, " Tliree marks 
and three marks are how many marks?" 

C. "Six marks." 

Subsequently the teacher would change the question by saying, "How many 
fire two times two pebbles ?" " How many are two times two marks ?" etc. 

LESSON ON NUMBERS. 
Given to the A class, primary. Age of children 8 to 9 years. 
The design of the lesson was to show the relations between addition, multi- 
plication, and division. 

The teacher wi'ote on the blackboard, and the children repeated the fol- 
lowing : 

3+3=6, 6+3=9, 9+3 = 12, 12+3 = 15, etc., up to 99. Then the teacher 
wrote 99-3=96, 96-3=93, and so on down to 6-3=3. 
Then 6 + 6 = 12, 12-^-6=2, 

6+6+6=18, 18-4-6=3, 

6 + 6+6+6=24, 24-+6=4, andsoon. 
The children read 6+6 = 12, two times G are 12, etc. 

7+7 = 14, 14-^7=2, 

7 + 7 + 7 = 21, 21-f-7=3, 
7+7+7+7=28, 28+-7=4, and so on to 100. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. 23 

Children read 7 + 7 = 14, two times 7 are 14. 14 divided by 7 = 2. 7 + 7 + 
7 = 21, three times 7 are 21. 21 divided by 7 = 3. 

Such lessons as these the children placed upon their slates while at their 
seats between class exercises. 

LESSON ON LANGUAGE. 

Given to the C class, primary. Age of children 7 to 9 years. 
The children were requested to name something that is hard. They men- 
tioned, and the teacher wrote on the board the following : 
Coal is hard. 
Wood is hard. 
Gold is hard. 
Iron is hard. 
The teacher inquired if any one in the class could tell her how to write the 
same in one sentence. Several hands were raised, and one pupil said, " Coal, 
wood, gold, and iron are hard." This was written upon the board. 

Then the pupils were asked to tell some quality of glass. They repeated, 
and the teacher wrote upon the board, 

Glass is colorless. 

Glass is hard. 

Glass is transparent. 

Glass is brittle. 

Glass is smooth. 
Then the pupils were requested to tell how to write these qualities in one 
sentence. They said, "Glass is colorless, hard, transparent, brittle, and 
smooth." This sentence was placed on the board. 

LESSON ON LANGUAGE. 

Given to the A class, primary. Ages 9 to 10 years. 

This lesson in language was designed to teach the pupils discrimination in 
the use of descriptive words. 

The children were to give any term which may be used in describing a face, 
and the teacher wrot§ them on the board as mentioned. They gave pi-etty, 
liomely, ivhite, rosy, freckled, wrinMed, hlitshing, happy, hashfid, sad, pale, cheer- 
ful, thin, sorrouful, sour, ugly. 

When a sufficient number of words had been written upon the board, the 
teacher called up a pupil to mark each word that may be used to describe one 
face. The first pupil marked words making the following description : "Hap- 
py, thin, wrinkled, pleasant, pale, pretty, white, cheerful face." 

Another marked "Ugly, freckled, homely, sour face." 

When one of the pupils chanced to mark words that expressed opposite qual- 
ities, as pretty, homely, cheerful, sour, the others made the correction. 

THURSDAY MORNING. 

The exercises of this forenoon wei-e held in the school-room. The opening 
exercise was a lesson in Moral Instniction. The teacher placed a colored en- 
graving (representing Moses stretching his arm over the Red Sea, the children 
of Israel crossing over on dry land, and the pillar of fire) on a stand, in view 



24 OSWEGO EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION. 

of the entire school. The teacher read a simple description of this event from 
a little volume entitled "Line upon Line," then called upon several of the chil- 
dren to point out on the picture the objects mentioned in the lesson from the 
book, also to answer questions relative to the event. At the close of this exer- 
cise the school arose and repeated together the Lord's Prayer. The entire ex- 
ercise seemed very interesting to the children, all of whom gave strict attention, 
and it was a beautiful sight to the observers. 

OBJECT LESSON.— 3d STEP. 

Given to the C class, primary. Children G to 7 years of age. 

The object of the lesson was to develop one quality — the idea of malkahilitij, 
and give the term. 

The children were shown pieces of lead, and asked to say something about it. 

Children. Lead is heavy. Lead is gray. Lead shines when cut. Lead is 
opaque. Lead is tenacious. 

The children handle the lead, passing it around. The teacher beats a piece 
of lead with a hammer, and having flattened it so that it is quite thin, she 
shows it to the children again. They say it has been flattened. The teacher 
then added, ' ' Lead will flatten by being beaten, and because we can flatten it 
by beating it we say lead is malleable.'^ The children repeat this. 

Next the teacher pounded a stone, and asked if it would flatten by beating 
it. She then asked, " Is the stone malleable?" 

C. Stone is not malleable. 

T. Why? 

C. Because we can not flatten it by beating it. 

The teacher then pounded a piece of chalk, that the children might see that 
we can not flatten it as we can lead, and hence that is not called malleable. 
The pupils were now requested to mention other objects that are malleable. 
They having named several, she inquired, "Why are these objects said to be 
malleable?" 

C. Because we can flatten them by beating them. 

The teacher and pupils then repeated together, Any thing that can be flattened 
by beating it is said to be malleable. 

LESSON ON ANIMALS.— THE IBIS.— 3d STEP. 

Given to a C class, primary. Ages 7 to 8. The object of the lesson was to 
show parts, and the adaptation of these to the habits, mode of life, etc. 

The teacher held the picture of the ibis before the children, and called upon 
one to come and point out some part of the bird. The child pointed to the head. 

T. What can you say of the head of the ibis? 

C. The ibis has a small head. 

Another comes and points to the eyes, and says, " The ibis has small eyes." 
Another points to its beak, and says, "The ibis has a long, curved, tapering, 
sharp beak." 

T. Why do you say the beak is tapering ? 

C. Because it is smaller at one end than it is at the other. 

The children were requested to observe the neck, and one was called to point 
to it in the picture and describe it. 

C. The ibis has a long, slender neck." 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. 25 

T. What can you say of its legs? 

C. It has long slender legs. 

T. Where do you think it lives? 

C. In swampy places. 

T. Why? 

C. Because it has long legs. 

T. Why does it need a long neck ? 

C. To reach down in the water and mud to get its food. 

T. Why would not short legs do as well ? 

C. The waves would wash him away. 

T. Why does he have a long beak ? 

C. So it can reach its food without putting its head under the water. 

OBJECT LESSON.— PEPPER. 

Given to an A class, primary. Ages of children 9 to 10. 
Object of the lesson to develop qualities of the object. Grains of pepper are 
shown to the children. They say it is vegetable. The teacher prints on the 
board, Pepper is a vegetable. 

The children say it is hard. One of them spells hard, while the teacher prints, 
Pepper is hard. 

After tasting it, they say, "Pepper is biting— pungent." This is printed on 
the board as the children spell the words. 
T. Why do you say pepper is pungent ? 
C. Because it has a burning taste. 

T. Can you think of any thing else that can be said of pepper? ^ 
C. It is black. It is rough. It is spherical. 

These sentences were placed on the board as the words were spelled. All- 
spice was shown them, and the two compared. They said, "Pepper is rough, 
and allspice is smooth." 

T. What can you say of its uses ? 
C. It is used for preserving things. 
T. What else may be said of it? 

C. Pepper is stimulating, because it has a burning taste. It is wholesome. 
T. It grows in very warm countries, hence we say it is tropical. It does not 
grow in our country, so we say it isforeujn. 

This was followed, as usual, with a brief summary of what had been gone 
over, to fix the important points in the memory. 

A CLASS FROM A COUNTRY SCHOOL INTRODUCED. ' 

In accordance with a request of the Committee of Examination, and that 
they might see the first steps in teaching children who have never had any in- 
struction by the system of Object Lessons, a class of children was procured from 
a school outside of the city and placed before one of the teachers. 

There was placed on the table before them cubes, spheres, cylinders, cones, 
and other solids. 

The attention of the children was first called to a sphere. They were told to 
observe its shape ; then its name was told them, and they required to repeat 
it. Then they were requested to select a sphere from the objects on the table ; 
then to point to other objects having the same shape. The children having 



26 



OSWEGO EDUCATIONAL CONVENTIOX. 



learned to distinguish this form, their attention was called to the cylinder, and 
they were led to select others like it. Then its name was told them. After- 
ward they were requested to look about the room and find something that had 
the shape of the cylinder. The children pointed to the stove-pipe, also to the 
pillars in the centre of the school-room. It was observed that the children dis- 
tinguished resemblances in different objects much more readily at the close of 
the exercise than at its commencement. 

The same class was next placed in charge of another teacher. She under- 
took to develop the idea of vegetable. 

A small rose-bush was shown them, and they were asked if they had ever 
seen any thing like it before. Then they were requested to name some other 
plant which they had seen. They mentioned rose-bush, gooseberry, currant. 
They were asked what plants they eat which grow in the garden, and their re- 
ply was " Cabbage." 

They were shown a picture of a leaf and a real leaf, and an effort was made 
to teach them to express a distinction between them ; but it was discovered that 
they were German children, and had learned so little of our language that the 
teacher must explain new words which expressed qualities to them in German 
before they could comprehend them. 

THURSDAY AFTERNOON. 

Exercises were held in the Court-house, and devoted to 

PHONETIC KEADING. 

Exercises were given with a C class, primary, in the 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th steps. 
1st Step. Teaching letters by their_/o?77is. 
I was described as one perpendicular line. 
V " " " two slanting lines. 

D " " " one perpendicular line, and one curved line on the right, 

touching the perpendicular line at the top and bottom. 

B was described as one perpendicular line, and two curved lines on the right, 
touching the perpendicular line at the top, in the centre, and at the bottom. 

The design of this exercise was, j?rs^, to secure accurate observation ; second, 
to secure accurate cxjircssion. These were to constitute the foundation of sub- 
sequent teaching. 

The children were also given slips of straight and curA'cd pasteboard, from 
which to form these letters and then to tell their names. 

. 2d Step. The sounds of the letters were repeated as simple vocal exercises, 
without referring them to the letters which represent them. 

3c? Step. Now initial consonants were combined with syllables consisting of 
a vowel followed by a consonant, as, 

b — ud, bud, d — og, dog, 

c — ot, cot, c — at, cat, 

In this exercise, the powers or sounds of the letters only are used, 
itk Step. Here two initial consonants were used, as, 

bl — ack, black, br — ay, bray, 

cl — oth, cloth, br — ow, brow, 

The meaning of the words are given in this step. 



REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE. 27 

The Bill and Gth Steps were illustrated with the A class, primary, children 
about 9 years of age. 

Anomalous sounds were considered, and the same sounds represented by dif- 
ferent characters, also the same characters representing different sounds. 

5th Step. The three sounds of ch, also silent letters, initial, central, and term- 
inal letters, were considered : 

CJi has the English sound, as in church, chair, chap, chip, chin, chat. 

Ch has a hard sound, as in chyme, churn, choir, etc. 

Ch has a French sound, as in Chicago, charade, chaise, Chemung, etc. 

The words showing examples of these different sounds were given by the pu- 
pils, while the teacher wrote them on the blackboard. 

Initial silent Letters. — H is an initial silent letter in hour, honor. 

Central silent Letters. — D and G are central silent letters in bridge, edge, 
sign, etc. 

Terminal silent Letters. — B and N are terminal silent letters in thumb, plumb, 
autumn, hymn. 

Gth Step. Sounds expressed by on ; and long sound of o expressed by dif- 
ferent letters ; classification of letters, and rules of spelling. 

The proper sound of o is expressed by ou in ground, found, round. 
" long " o " " " " soul, mould, court. 

" broad " o " n a a sought, fought. 

" close " It " " " " couple. 

" long " 11 " " " " croup. 

The long sound of o is expressed by different letters, as in oat, boat, floor, 
doe, chateau, sew, coast, sorrow. 

Classification of Letters. — Letters are classified, with reference to their sound, 
into 

Vowels, a, e, o, u, and semi-vowels, w, y; liquids,!, m, n, r, ng; mutes, 
sharp, p, t, f, th, as in thin ; mute flats, b, d, v, th, as in then ; diphthongs, i, 
oi, oy, and aspirate h. 

In addition to the foregoing exercises, a few simple rules for spelling were 
deduced from examples of words given, and the exercises of the examination 
closed. 

CONCLUSIONS OF THE COMMITTEE. 

In view of all they have witnessed in the exercises, of which 
the foregoing are brief sketches, and in the light of the best in- 
formation which they have been able from various som'ces to 
obtain upon the subject of "Object Teaching," and what is 
known as the Pestalozzian system generally, they feel warranted 
in giving expression to the following conclusions : 

1. That the principles of that system are philosophical and 
sound ; that they are founded in, and are in harmony with the 
nature of man, and hence are best adapted to secure to him such 
an education as will conduce in the highest degree to his wel- 
fare and happiness, present and future. 

2. That the particular methods of instruction presented in the 



og OSWEGO EDUCATIONAL CONVENTION. 

exercises before us as illustrative of those principles merit and 
receive our hearty approbation, subject to such modifications as 
experience and the characteristics of our people may determine 
to be wise and expedient. 

In conclusion, the Committee beg leave to present in the form 
of resolutions the following recommendations: 

Resolved^ That in the opinion of your Committee, the System 
of Object Teaching is admirably adapted to cultivate the per- 
ceptive faculties of the child, to furnish him with clear concep- 
tions and the power of accurate expression, and thus to prepare 
him for the prosecution of the sciences or the pursuits of active 
life ; and that the Committee do recommend the adoption of the 
system in whole or in part, wherever such introduction is prac- 
ticable. 

Resolved, That this system of primary education, which sub- 
stitutes in great measure the teachers for the book, demands 
in its instructors varied knowledge and thorough culture ; and 
that attempts to introduce it by those icho do not clearly compre- 
hend its principles, and loho have not been trained in its meth- 
ods, can result only in failure. 

All which is respectfully submitted. 
(Signed) Wm. F. Phelps, 

d. h. cochean, 

David N. Camp, 

Thomas F. Harrison, 

H. P. Wilbur, 

Geo. L. Farnham, 

W. NlCOLL, 



Special Committee 
on Report. 



Approved by the General Committee, and read before the Con- 
vention, in Doolittlc Hall, on Thursday evening, February 13th, 
1862. 



The following paper, written by Miss M. E. M. Jones, of London, was read 
on Tuesday evening by Mr. E. D. Weller. 

THE LAWS OF CHILDHOOD. 



The merit of the Pestalozzian system is that, recognizing the 
character of children, it adapts itself to this, doing invariably 
and systematically what all good parents and teachers do often 
and intuitively. 

Pestalozzi recognized the nature of a child as threefold — phys- 
ical, mental, and moral. He demanded that this nature should 
be aided in developing itself sin^ultaneously, harmoniously, and 
progressively. He noted the threefold characteristics of this 
threefold nature, and said, " The chief characteristic of a child's 
physical nature is activity ; of his intellectual nature, love of 
knowledge ; of his moral nature, sympathy. No educational 
system can suit him unless it works by these." 

I. Activity is a law of childhood. Its abuse produces rest- 
lessness, love of mischief, etc. It were not too much to demand 
that the number of hours devoted by growing boys and girls to 
physical exercise, in some shape or other, should equal those de- 
voted to intellectual exercises. This the teacher can not secure. 
She can, however, insist (as a necessary condition of work) that 
her pupils shall have two recesses in the morning, and one in the 
afternoon, each twenty minutes long ; that during the time of 
recess they be not constrained to quietude ; for children, unless 
asleep, can not rest without they play, and they can not play 
without making a noise ; that they shall sit and stand alternate- 
ly ; that they shall have physical exercise between each lesson, 
unless singing or recess intervene, and that the remainder of the 
time be honestly occupied in school work. 

It is really a sad sight to see young children permitted neither 
to work nor play, but kept in their seats for two or three hours 
under pretense of studying. Were schools instituted for the 
purpose of training little ones to the love of mischief and to 
idleness, they could hardly adopt better means to secure such 
an end. To divide a school into two sections, to take each al- 
ternately, and, while teaching one, to provide the other with 



QQ THE LAWS OF CHILDHOOD. 

something to do (the doing of which is to be tested), as copying 
printed cohimns of words, arranging patterns of forms or colors, 
weighing, measm-ing, working number exercises on slates or 
blackboards, drawing the school-room to scale, reproducing on 
their own slates lessons in spelling or in language. All this re- 
quires not only the necessary apparatus, but traininff, energy, 
and moral influence on the part of the teacher. It is easier, to 
be sure, to remain in one's seat, calling up one class at a time, 
and hearing these read and spell in turn, while the rest are com- 
manded " to keep studying." 

Now that another method of keeping school is introduced 
consistently with the greater energy expended by teachers and 
children, the number of school hours ought to be diminished. 
It has been amply proved that the children of the Home and Co- 
lonial Schools, London, now attending school during five hours, 
make greater progress than thf y formerly did in six. 

I shall not be surprised to find the number of hours reduced 
to four. Edwin Chadwick, J. Currie, and other educators, who 
can speak as having authority, declare that more than four hours 
in the day can not advantageously be spent in school by chil- 
dren less than eight years of age. 

Even in the case of elder children, I should not be inclined to 
add to the four hours ; but I would diminish, and at length dis- 
pense with the intervening physical exercises, recesses, etc. Gym- 
nastics and driUing are good, but these can have another time 
set apart for them ; and as soon as the scholar is able to work 
alone, he should be required to spend at first twenty minutes, 
and ultimately, perhaps, two hours in the performance of an ap- 
pointed task, not merely in preparation for recitation, but in 
writing exercises, and in the reproduction of the oral lessons he 
receives from his teacher, etc. 

To make these oral lessons worth recording, indeed to insure 
them as being of any value at all, they must be well prepared. 
Much, if not all the time gained by the teacher will be devoted 
to this. In Germany or England, a trained teacher (and un- 
trained teachers are not recognized) would no more think of ad- 
dressing her scholars without preparation, than a lecturer his 
audience, or a minister his congregation. 

II. Zove ofknoideclge is a law of childhood. The abuse of 
this produces idle and impertinent cimosity. It is a simple 
fact, that the appetite of a child for knowledge is as keen as his 
appetite for food. If we say we find it otherwise, it is because 



THE LAWS OF CHILDHOOD. 3j 

we give him words when he knows not what they express, signs 
when he knows not what they symboHze — the husk instead of 
the kernel ; or if, indeed, the kernel is there, he can not get at it 
through the shell. The maxims laid down by Pestalozzi for the 
mental training of children are as follows : 

"Is^. Reduce every subject to its elements. One difficulty at 
a time is enough for the mind of a child, and the measure of in- 
formation is not what you can give, but what he can receive. 

" 2d. Begin with the senses. Never tell a child what he can 
discover for himself. 

" 3f?. Proceed stej^ by step. Take not the order of the sub- 
ject, but the order of nature. 

" ^th. Go from the known to the unknown, from the idea to 
the word, from the signification to the symbol, from the exam- 
ple to the rule, from the simple to the complex." 

Formerly we reversed all these rules. Our usual plan of teach- 
ing children to read and spell is a good example of their viola- 
tion. Let us, on the contrary, follow these rules, and we ascend 
From Form to Geometry ; 
" Place to Geography ; 
" Weight to Mechanics / 

•" /Size to Projoortion in Prawing and Architectural De- 
signs ; 
" Number to Arithmetic and Algebra ; 
" Color to Chromatography y 
" Plants to Botany ; 
" Animals to Zoology / 
" Human Body to Physiology y 
" Objects to Mineralogy, Chemistry, etc. ; 
" Actions to Arts and Manufactures ; 
" Language to Grammar. 
With reference to this ascent, Pestalozzi noted, 
First, the order in which the faculties are developed with re- 
spect to one another ; and. 

Secondly, the order in which each develops itself with respect 
to its objects : 

1. First, the perceptive Faculty ; 
Secondly, the Conceptive Faculty ; 
Thirdly, the Reasoning Faculty. 

2. In the exercise of the Perceptive faculty, the perception of 
likeness precedes the perception of difference, and the perception 
of difference perceptions of order and proportion. 



32 THE LAWS OF CHILDHOOD. 

In the exercise of the Conceptive faculty, coneejjts of things 
physical precede concepts of things imaginary ^w\A concepts of 
things imaginary concepts of things metaphysical. 

In the exercise of the Reasoning faculty, the power of tracing 
effect from cause is based., chiefly., on the perception of order ; 
the p)Ower of tracing analogies on the perception of likeness ; 
the judgment on the perception of difference. 

III. Sympathy is a law of childhood. Pestalozzi argued that 
young children can not he governed by appeals to conscience., 
veneration., or the love of the beautiful, because in them these 
sentiments are not yet developed. Still less are they to be gov- 
erned by the excitements of emulation, as commonly understood, 
or of fear. True, the principle of emulation exists in the child, 
and a wise teacher will apjDcal to it, not wdth reference to his 
class-fellows, but to his task. The lesson, and not the schoolmate, 
is to be overcome. The latter is to be recognized not as an an- 
tagonist, but as a fellow-worker. The prize of success is not for 
one., but for all. 

The principle of fear, too, exists in the child. It is right that 
he should be afraid to incur the displeasure of his teacher ; but 
the fear of bodily pain merely is the lowest of all motives. It is 
hardly jjossible to cultivate the conscience of a child wdio is 
brought uf) under its influence ; for, if he do right from fear alone, 
he will certainly do wrong whenever he judges he has a chance 
of doing it undetected. This every one knows. 

Concerning fear and emulation, as employed by unwise teach- 
ers, Pestalozzi wrote, " Moral diseases are not to be counteracted 
by moral poisons." He maintained that very young children 
were to be governed by sympathy ; that the teacher can, and 
does communicate her own sj^irit to the scholars. " Do and be," 
said he, " what you wish your children to do and be." " Work 
with the will, not against it." 

Furthermore, he showed that this sympathy, as a motive to 
action, must be gradually superseded by the ride of right., so soon 
as the children are able to recognize and apply the latter; for 
all good government tends to self-government — all good educa- 
tion, in childhood, tends to self-education. 

May the children of our schools j^rogress from suitable im- 
pressions to befitting habits ; from good feelings to right jsrinci- 
ples ; from submission to the impulse of fear to obedience to the 
dictates of conscience ; from love of friends to the love of God. 



After the reading of the paper on the "Laws of Childhood," the following 
Address was delivered by Mr. N. A. Calkins, of New -York, on 

THE HISTORY OF OBJECT TEACHING. 



History furnishes no records of attention to elementary edu- 
cation prior to the seventeenth century. The ancients neglected 
the instruction of their children, although they provided schools 
of philosophy for their young men. The prevailing idea on the 
subject of education appears to have been that knowledge con- 
sisted in the memory of rules and words rather than in things 
and thoughts. The practice of teaching by requiring the pupils 
to memorize all lessons, without regard to an imderstanding of 
their meaning, had come down from the monastic schools of 
earlier ages. The principles of development by primary educa- 
tion were then unknown in all the plans of teaching. 

Just before the dawn of the seventeenth century, a keen ob- 
server of nature and men, having noticed that artisans worked 
out their results by inductive processes of reasoning, also that 
the arts and sciences were progressing, while philosophy and 
education remained stationary, borrowed the principle of utility 
and progress from the workshops of his time, applied it to phi- 
losophy and education, and the Avorld was aroused by the tri- 
umphal progress of a new system of philosophy which immor- 
talized the name of Francis Bacon. 

This philosopher taught that the powers of memory alone can 
do but little toward the advancement of science or education. 
He classed those school achievements in mere memory with the 
physical achievements of the mountebanks : " The two perform- 
ances are much of the same sort. The one is an abuse of the 
powers of the mind; the other is an abuse of the powers of the 
body. Both may excite our wonder, but neither is entitled to 
our respect." 

Although Bacon's attention was chiefly confined to philosophy, 
yet he struck the key-note of those great principles of education 
Avhich have become the foundation of the most philosophical 
methods of teaching now practiced throughout the civihzed 
world. Said he, " Men read in books what authors say concern- 
ing stones, plants, animals, and the like, but to inspect these 

C 



34 THE inSTORY OF OBJECT TEACHING. 

stones, plants, and animals with their own eyes is far enough 
from their thoughts ; whereas we should fix the eyes of our 
mind upon things themselves, and thereby form a true concep- 
tion of them." Little, however, was accomplished during Ba- 
con's time in devising plans for the primary education of chil- 
dren. 

Early in the seven^jpath century the inductive system of Ba- 
con attracted the ai^ntion of a thinking, earnest teacher of 
Austria — John Amos Comenius. Pie seems almost to have been 
endowed with an intuition which gave him, to a remarkable de- 
gree, a knowledge of the true principles of education. He saw 
more clearly than any of his predecessors what was necessary 
for the improvement of the methods of instruction, and he soon 
made an application of the principles of Bacon's inductive system 
to primary education. In 1657 he published the first school- 
book in which pictures were used to illustrate the various topics 
discussed in it. This work continued to be a text-book in the 
German schools for nearly two hundred years. 

Comenius was an evangelical preacher as well as an educator, 
and on the issue of a decree in 1624 that all persons must leave 
the Austrian dominions who Avould not become Catholics, he 
took his dej^arture for Poland with thirty thousand families, 
of whom five hundred were of noble blood. As he came upon 
the range of mountains at the boundary, he paused to look once 
more back to his native land, and, with his brethren, fell upon 
his knees and prayed, with many tears, that God would not suf- 
fer His Word to be entirely destroyed in that country, but would 
preserve some seed of it there. 

"Who will say that those prayers were not answered, when, 
within five years afterward, Comenius was himself permitted to 
.return and labor for the improvement of the schools of Bohemia. 

Subsequently he went to Lissa, Poland, where he became pres- 
ident of the school, and bishop of the Moravian brethren — a sect 
which has been distinguished for its good schools wherever its 
colonies have been planted. Here he published his first work, 
the Janua Linguarum Beserata — a new method of teaching 
languages, in connection with instruction in the elements of the 
sciences. This work soon carried his fame to other lands, and 
every where it developed the necessity of a reform in education. 

By an Act of Pai'liament Comenius was invited to England in 
1641, to undertake the reformation of their schools. His labors 
there were defeated by the disturbances in Ireland and the civil 



THE HISTORY OF OBJECT TEACHING. 35 

wars. A similar invitation having been extended to him by the 
government of Sweden, he left England and went to Stockholm 
in 1642. War again interrupting his labors, he returned to Lissa. 
Subsequently he visited Hungary and other places, to prosecute 
his efforts in behalf of education. Again he returned to Lissa, 
but only to encounter greater misfortunes. Amid the disturb- 
ances between the Catholic Poles and the Moravian Protestants, 
the city was burned, and he lost his house, his library, and his 
manuscri^^ts, the labors of many years. He subsequently went 
to Holland, and found an asylum in the city of Amsterdam, where 
he reproduced several of his lost works. He died in 1671, at 
the age of eighty. 

Comenius was the great educator of the seventeenth century. 
Such was his enduring earnestness that, although exiled from his 
native land, wandering, persecuted, and homeless, durmg the des- 
olating thirty-years' war of that period, still he continued to labor 
unweariedly in the cause of education, not only inspiring several 
countries of Europe with an enthusiastic desire for a better sys- 
tem of instruction, but introducing new principles of education, 
which greatly modified, the practices in teaching, and prepared 
the way, by gradual changes, for the more thorough reformation 
of schools which followed under the labors of subsequent edu- 
cators. 

In his educational works may be found the first promulgation 
of the principles and plans of Object Teaching, and of a gradu- 
ated system of instruction adapted to the wants of the age in 
which he lived. 

Some of his leading ideas on the subject of education we will 
briefly state : " Since the beginning of knowledge must be with 
the senses, the beginning of teaching should be made by dealing 
with actual things. The object must be a real, useful thing, ca- 
pable of making an impression upon the senses. To this end it 
must be brought into communication with them ; if visible, with 
the eyes; if audible, with the ears; if .tangible, with the touch; 
if odorous, with the nose ; if sapid, with the taste. First the 
presentation of the thing itself, and the real intuition of it ; then 
the oral explanation for the farther elucidation of it." 

But inasmuch as the presentation of the thing itself is so fre- 
quently impossible, he advised the use of pictures as the repre- 
sentatives of things, that the words which related to them might 
be understood. 

The course of instruction laid down by Comenius commenced 



gg THE HISTORY OF OBJECT TEACHING. 

with infancy. During the first six years the children were to 
learn to know animals, plants, stones, and the names and uses of 
the members of their own body. They Avere also to be led to 
distinguish cqlors, and to delight their eyes with beautiful things. 
They should begin Geograj^hy with the knowledge of the room, 
the streets, the fiiiSds, the farm — Arithmetic, with counting ob- 
jects — Geometry, with understanding the ideas of lines, circles, 
angles, length, breadth, an inch, a foot, etc. — Music, with hearing 
singing — History, with a knowledge of what happened to them 
yesterday and the day before — Chronology, with the knowledge 
of day and night, hours, weeks, and festivals. 

The views of Comenius are so completely in* harmony with 
the natural means of acquiring knowledge through the exercise 
of the senses, and with the laws of mental develojDment, and 
also with the observations and experiences of many succeeding 
educators, that we deem the presentation of a few of his thoughts, 
in language more literally his own, due even in this brief history 
of Obj ect Teaching. For the following extracts from his writings 
we are indebted to that most valuable of all collections of educa- 
tional literature, Barnard'' s American Journal of Education. 

Said Comenius : "The best years of my own youth were wasted 
in useless school exercises. How often, since I have learned to 
know better, have I shed tears at the remembrance of lost hours. 
But grief is vain. Only one thing remains ; only one thmg is 
possible — to leave posterity what advice I can by showing the 
way in which our teachers have led us into errors, and the meth- 
od of remedying these errors." 

His practical views of education may be discerned in the suc- 
ceeding quotations : 

" Instruction will usually succeed if it follows the course of 
Nature. Whatever is natural goes forward of itself" 

" The first education should be of the perceptions, then of the 
memory, then of the understanding, then of the judgment." 

" Iijstruction must begin with actual inspection, not with ver- 
bal description of things." 

" To learn is to proceed from something known to the knowl- 
edge of something unknown ; in which there are three things, 
the known, the unknown, and the mental effort to reach the un- 
known from the known." 

" We first proceed toward knowledge by the perception and 
understanding of the present ; and afterward go on from the 
present to the absent by means of the information of others." 



THE HISTORY OF OBJECT TEACHING. 



37 



" The attention should be fixed upon only one object at a time; 
and upon the whole first, and the parts afterward." 

" A second point should not be undertaken until the first is 
learned ; and with the second^ the first should be repeated." 

" Sight will supply the place of demonstration. It is good to 
use several senses in understanding one thing." 

" To know any thing is to be able to represent it, either by 
the mind, or the hand, or the tongue. We learn, not only in 
order to understand, but also to express and to use what we un- 
derstand. As much as any one understands, so much ougbt he 
to accustom himself to express; and, on the other hand, he should 
understand whatever he says. Speech and knowledge should 
proceed with equal steps." 

" Hitherto the schools have done nothing with the view of 
developing children, like young trees, froni the growing impulse 
of their own roots, but only with that of hanging them over 
with twigs broken off elsewhere. They teach youth to adorn 
themselves with others' feathers, like the crow in JEsoj)'s Fa]bles. 
They do not show them things as they are, but tell them what 
one and another, and a third, and a tenth has thought and writ- 
ten about them ; so that it is considered a mark of great wisdom 
for a man to know a great many opinions which cdfatradict each 
other." 

" The schools are wrong in first teaching langi^kge and then 
proceeding to things. The thing is the substance, and the word 
the accident ; the thing is the body, und the word the clothing. 
Things and words should be studied togetljer, but things espe- 
cially, as the objects both of the imderstanding and of language." 

"In God are the original ideas, which He impresses upon 
things ; things, again, impress their representations uj^on the 
senses ; the senses impart them to the mind ; the mind to the 
tongue, and the tongue to the ears of others. The mind thinks 
— the tongue speaks — the hand makes; hence the arts of speak- 
ing and working, and the sciences of things." 

Such are a few of the principles in education which Comenius 
taught — and they have since been confirmed by the experiences 
of two centuries. 

It is difiicult to judge to what extent the later educators — 
Lock, Rousseau, and Pestalozzi — were indebted to Comenius for 
those principles which they severally taught subsequently, but 
we find much in the writings of each that is entirely in accord- 
ance with the teachings of this great pioneer in educational re- 



38 THE HISTORY OP OBJECT TEACHING. 

forms. It is not too much to say that a careful study of the his- 
tory of education would result in the conviction that many of 
the best methods of instruction, and the principles of education 
on which are based so great a number of the modern improve- 
ments in modes of teaching, were conceived and taught by Co- 
menius more than two hundred years ago. He planted the seeds 
which have germinated from time to time, under the fostering 
care of various educators, and to-day we behold their most vig- 
orous growth. 

The labors of Comenius were performed during the first two 
thirds of the seventeenth century. John Locke, the distinguished 
English philosopher, lived during the last two thirds of that cen- 
tury. Pie urged, as the chief business of primary education, the 
development of the faculties of the child ; that as the first ideas 
of children are derived from sensation, so the perceptive facul- 
ties should be the first cultivated or developed. The main ele- 
ments of his methods of education were attention to the physical 
wants of the child, and the development of the intellectual jdow- 
ers through the instrumentality of things. 

Rousseau, who acknowledged his indebtedness to Locke, and 
who embodied ideas similar to those of that philosopher in a 
treatise on Education called " Emile," lived during nearly three 
fourths of the eighteenth century. 

Pestalozzf Avas born about the middle of the eighteenth, and 
died soon after the close of the first quai'ter of the nineteenth 
century. He said: "Observation is the absolute basis of all 
knowledge. The/irst object then, in education, must be to lead 
a child to observe with accuracy ; the second, to €X2yress with 
correctness the result of his observations.?' " The development 
of man commences with natural perceptions through the senses. 
Its highest attainment, intellectually, is the exercise of reason." 
Although we find no direct acknowledgment of Pestalozzi's in- 
debtedness to Comenius, as we do of the relation of the latter 
to Bacon, no one can examine the systems of these educators of 
the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries without discovering 
many remarkable similarities. It was doubtless owing to the 
general difiusion of the ^^Wwcijo^es so widely taught by Comenius 
that the methods for applying them, which were subsequently 
devised by Pestalozzi, became at once so popular and widely 
successful. 

The dawn of the present century beheld Pestalozzi at Bourg- 
dorf, engaged with Krilsi in making a more detailed applica- 



THE HISTORY OF OBJECT TEACHING. 39 

tion of those principles of educatiou which were disseminated 
by Comenius a century and a half before, in methods chiefly 
devised by himself. While there, Pestalozzi wrote that work — 
"How Gertrude teaches her Children" — which attracted so 
much attention to his system of education from all parts of 
Europe. 

As early as 1807 we find him in chai-ge of the institution at 
Yverdun, where he attained his highest renown, and where he 
remained for nearly a quarter of a century. So widely had his 
fame extended, that persons went thither from almost every 
country of Europe, and even from America ; not merely those 
who were led by the impulses which inspired him, but by the 
agents of kings and noblemen, and of public institutions, who de- 
sired to make themselves acquainted with his methods of teach- 
ing, in order to their introduction into other countries. No sim- 
ilar institution has ever attained so great fame, and no other has 
exerted so wide an influence on the methods of teaching. 

Just before Pestalozzi opened his institution at Yverdun, he 
received a request from a philantlj^'opic society in Paris to send 
a teacher there who could introduce his system of instruction 
into France. Accordingly, he selected Mr. Joseph Neef, who had 
been associated with him as a teacher, and who possessed the 
additional qualifications of understanding both the German and 
French languages. Mr. Neef went to Paris, and remained some 
two years, laboring with a good degree of success. 

During the summer of 1805, Mr. William Mac Clure, of Phil- 
adelphia, while traveling in Switzerland, visited Pestalozzi's 
school, and was so much pleased with the system of teaching 
that he resolved to^^ntroduce it into America. On returning to 
Paris he sought out Mr. Neef, and invited him to come to this 
country. 

" On whiat terms," said Mr. Mac Clure, " would you go to my 
country and introduce your method of education ? I haye seen 
Pestalozzi ; I know his system ; my country wants it, and will 
receive it with enthusiasm, I will engage to pay your passage, 
also to secure your livelihood. Go, and be your master's apostle 
in the New World," 

So generous an invitation awakened an earnest desire Jn Mr. 
Neef to visit this country. He would fain have accepted it, but 
he did not know our language. " Two years shall be allowed 
you for acquiring that language, during which time I will sup- 
port you," said this noble benefactor. This generous proposi- 



^Q THE HISTORY OF OBJECT TEACHING. 

tion decided the mission. Mr. Neef came to Philadel2:)lHa, stud- 
ied the lauguage, and in 1809 published a small volume setting 
forth, somewhat in the style of an extended prospectus, the plans 
and principles of a new method of education which he proposed 
to introduce into a private school that he should establish in the 
suburbs of that city. He labored there for several years, but 
from some cause, probably owing to his inability to adapt him- 
self to the American mind and habits, his enterprise failed. 
Judging from a second volume which he issued in 1813, on lan- 
guage, he must have been not only impractical, but also have 
failed to comprehend the necessity of Americanizing the system 
instead of merely transj)lanting it. 

He probably sought — to quote his own words, uttered in view 
of the fate which might attend his school — " some obscure vil- 
lage whose hardy youth want a schoolmaster ;" for, said he, " to 
become an obscure, useful country schoolmaster is the highest 
pitch of my worldly ambition." 

Although Pestalozzi founded his system on correct principles, 
he frequently erred in his pi;a,ctice of teaching. Many of his ex- 
pedients for Object Teaching were faulty, and not even in ac- 
cordance with his own system. In his zeal for the improvement 
of the mind itself, and for methods of instruction which were 
calculated to invigorate its faculties, he forgot the necessity of 
positive knowledge as the materials for thought and i^ractical 
use in future life. So frequently did he violate his own system 
in the exercises of the school-room, that one of his intimate 
friends and admirers said of him, " His province is to educate 
ideas, not children." Nevertheless, he succeeded in reviving the 
true principles of teaching, and instituting the greatest educa- 
tional movement of the century. He had the good fortune to 
associate with him Neiderer, Kriisi, Schmid, Zellei\ and Fellen- 
berg, to whose systematic development of his methods, and their 
dissemination of them, the subsequent success of his system is 
largely due. Many of his teachers even resigned to him what- 
ever of fame and profit might come from publishing the manuals 
which they compiled for their respective branches of study while 
engaged as instructers in his institution. 

During the subjugation of Germany under Napoleon, the 
minds of the ablest Prussian statesmen were eagerly occupied in 
devising means for raising the moral, mental, and physical char- 
acter of the nation to a standard of elevated development, which, 
although it might be of little immediate use in their struggle for 



THE HISTORY OF OBJECT TEACHING. 4]^ 

independence, yet might insure the success of such a struggle in 
the future. Among the prominent instrumentalities sought for 
this purpose was an impi-ovement in their schools, by the intro- 
duction of the Pestalozzian system of teaching. The king, the 
queen, and the ministry looked upon this movement with hopes 
of the happiest results. Accordingly, extensive measures were 
at once taken to test these plans. 

Carl August Zeller, who had been one of Pestalozzi's teachers 
at Bourgdorf, also at Yverdun, was engaged by the government 
of Prussia to organize normal schools for training teachers in 
this system of instruction. In addition to this means, several 
young men were sent to Yverdun, also to other similar institu- 
tions, to acquire the best methods of teaching. Thus, in a com- 
paratively short time, a large body of competent instructors were 
scattered among the Prussian schools. 

Introduced as the system thus was under the most favorable 
auspices, yet with some modifications, its spirit proved satisfac- 
tory in meeting the needs of the people for a more thorough 
intellectual development of the nation. This introduction w^s 
commenced about 1810, and in 1825 it had possession of the en- 
tire common school system of that coimtry. 

From Prussia and the German states the system of Pestalozzi 
has been widely diffused in other countries by visitors who went 
there for the purpose of examining the workings of their schools. 
It was partially transferred to France by Cousin and JuUien. 
The principles of this system now prevail in the best schools 
of England, Denmark, Switzerland, Prussia, Germany, Sardinia, 
Greece, and many of the colonies of Great Britain. The meth- 
ods of teaching which prevail in the United States have been 
materially influenced by the promulgation of these principles. 

Some thirty years ago eflbrts were made in Boston, and oth- 
er portions of New England, to intw)duce the system of Pes- 
talozzi into their schools by Prof. William Russell, William C. 
Woodbridge, Carter, Gallaudet, Alcott, and Dr. Griscom. Able 
articles were published on this subject by Prof. Russell, in the 
'•'• Journal of Education^'' as long ago as 1829. In 1830 and '31, 
WiUiam C. Woodbridge wrote a series of articles for the '•'■Annals 
of Education^'' describing the ijrinciples of teaching in the insti- 
tution of Fellenberg, at Hofwyl, where improved methods of 
Pestalozzi's system were practiced. These articles treated chief- 
ly upon the principles of the system, without giving details of 
the methods. Notwithstanding the diffusion of the principles 



^2 THE HISTORY OF OBJECT TEACHING. 

of Object Teaching in this country during that period, its prac- 
tice died out through the loant of teachers trained in the system 
and its methods. 

The institution of Pestalozzi, at Yverdun, was visited in 1818 
by Dr. Mayo, of London, and about the same period by Dr. 
Biber and Mr. Greaves. Through the efforts of these gentlemen 
the system taught there was introduced into England. The suc- 
cess of this introduction was secured through the organization, 
in 1836, of the "Home and Colonial School Society," and the 
subsequent establishment of Training and Model Schools in Lon- 
don, for instructing teachers in its principles and methods. 

Li this introduction of the system of Object Teaching into Eng- 
land, it was found necessary to greatly modify the plans of in- 
struction to .adapt them to the Anglo-Saxon mind and character. 
In the schools of this society the system of elementary instruc- 
tion by object lessons has been brought to a much greater de- 
gree of perfection, than it attained even under the immediate 
supervision of the celebrated Swiss educator. 

The Training Institution of London usually has about two 
hundred student teachers in attendance ; and about one hundred 
graduate annually. Up to the present time some 3000 teachers 
have been trained there, and by them the methods of Object 
Teaching are gradually being diffused throughout England. 

Something has been done toward introducing the plans of 
Object Teaching into the best schools of Canada. Visitors from 
the United Stfrtes to the celebrated Normal and Model Schools 
of Toronto have caught glimpses of the system from time to 
time, and brought away many suggestions for improvements in 
their own methods of teaching.* 

About two years since, one who had long been dissatisfied 
with the results of the usual methods of elementary instruction, 
and who had been endeavoring to devise some more common- 
sense methods for pi-imary schools than those wl^ch consisted 
of mere memory of words, while visiting the Model School of 
Toronto, found the books published by the Home and Colonial 
Society on elementary instruction. He procured these, together 
with pictures and other apparatus for illustrating the lessons, 
and, returning to the schools under his supervision, prepared his 
programmes, called his teachers together, gave them instructions, 
and commenced in earnest the introduction of Object Teaching 
into all the primary schools under his charge. 

Many were the difiiculties encountered. The methods of 



THE HISTORY OF OBJECT TEACHING. 



43 



teaching were new alike to superintendent, teachers, and pupils. 
No one Avas at hand, familiar with the system, to give instruc- 
tion either in its principles or methods. As a substitute for this, 
and the guidance of one trained in the practice of Object Teach- 
ing, once during each week teachers and superintendent met to 
compare notes of lessons and notes of p|Beress. The oldest 
teachers, as well as the youngest, studied m preparation for the 
work before them. 

The teachers became more and more interested in the system 
as they saw its results in their pupils. The interest of the pu- 
pils grew stronger as the teachers learned to practice the system 
better. Such were the efforts for the first systematic introduc- 
tion of Object Teaching into the United States ; and the honor 
of this achievement is due to the city of Oswego, her earnest su- 
perintendent, E. A. Sheldon, Esq., and her progressive Board of 
Education. 

During the regular annual examinations for promotions, about 
one year ago, the subject of Object Lessons was added to the 
list of studies in which examinations were to be made. It was 
my pleasure to be present for several days, and witness the ex- 
ercises. Notes from parents requesting that Henry, "William, 
and Mary might be allowed to remain in the primary school an- 
other term, " they are so much interested in their Object Les- 
sons," told in unmistakable language of its appreciation by the 
parents. They found their children becoming unusually inter- 
ested in school, and more attentive and observing at home ; and 
their hearts were gladdened in view of the changes that were 
being wrought in their boys and girls. 

My own gratification has since been repeatedly expressed in 
words similar to the following : " To any one who may desire 
to see the practical operations of Object Teaching, and the best 
system of elementary instruction to be found in this country, let 
me. say, make a visit to Oswego." 

It was at length discovered that to meet the wants of their 
schools, and secure the comi^lete introduction and continued 
practice of the system, a Training School was needed. Accord- 
ingly, application was made to the " Home and Colonial School 
Society" of London for a training teacher. They responded 
by sending Miss M. E. M. Jones, who arrived here on the first 
of May last, and immediately entered upon her duties. 

In response to an announcement that a few teachers would be 
admitted in the class besides those engaged in the public schools 



44 THE HISTORY OP OBJECT TEACHING. 

of Oswego, a dozen other ladies assembled there on the 6th of 
August last. Others were subsequently admitted. Several mem- 
bers of this training class have already left to engage in teaching. 

Rooms have been fitted up in the New York State Normal 
School at Albany for a Model School in Object Teaching, where 
the future gradu^jMjp from that institution will be instructed in 
this system. ThiOlodel Dei3artment will be under the charge 
of a lady who was trained in the class at Oswego. 

The Board of Trustees of the New Jersey State Normal 
School, appreciating the advantages of the system, sent a lady 
teacher to attend this training class, and defrayed her expenses, 
to prepare herself for introducing it into their school at Tren- 
ton. 

Some of the practices of Object Teaching have been intro- 
duced into the Normal School at Ypsilanti, Mich,, by the princi- 
pal of that institution. 

Already several cities and many towns are taking steps pre- 
paratory to its introduction, and some have been practicing its 
lessons for several months. Among .those thus actively inter- 
ested, we may mention Syracuse, New York, Paterson, N. J., 
Chicago, 111., Toledo and Cincinnati, Ohio, Rochester, N. Y., San 
Francisco, and might add a large number of smaller places.* 

The great interest manifested in this system of instruction is 
shown by the numerous articles on the subject which appear in 
the educational journals of the country, and in the repeated and 

* Note. — The author of this Address has omitted to state some facts, of a 
personal nature, which are important to an accurate liistoiy of the present 
movement in primary education in this country. 

In the summer of 18G0, Mr. Calkins commenced the active preparation of 
a work on "Object Lessons," which was published in July, 1861. Within six 
months from its first presentation to the public it had reached its fourth edition, 
and it is used wherever there is any interest in Object Teaching. In addition 
to this, and in response to numerous invitations from Teachers' Institutes and 
Teachers' Associations, he has delivered lectui'es on this subject in various parts 
of the states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and in Massachusetts. 
Of his labors in the State of New York, the State Superintendent remarks in 
his last Annual Eeport : 

' ' A large number of school commissioners, having interested themselves in 
the subject, secured the services of N. A. Calkins, Esq. — a gentleman who has 
given the system much attention and study — who visited and conducted quite 
a number of institutes, lecturing upon the principles, and giving instruction in 
the practice of ' Object Teaching.' In this way the attention of many hundreds 
of our teachers has been directed to definite aims in the elevation of the char- 
acter of the educational work." — Board of Education, Oswego. 



THE HISTORY OF OBJECT TEACHING. 45 

numerous inquiries relative to jts plans. Amid this general in- 
terest in the system, and the popular excitement concerning it, 
there is great danger that the well-meaning, but not well-inform- 
ed, may make fatal mistakes in attempting to practice it. Object 
Teaching is based on philosophical jDriuciples, and the teacher 
must know what those principles are before she can apply its 
methods successfully. The true system of teaching takes Nature 
for its guide ; its dangers lie in the want of observation and con- 
formity to the relations of knowledge and the laws of mental 
development. 

Durino'the time of Pestalozzi, Yverdun was the fountain from 
whence the teachers of Europe and America sought a new and 
better system of education. When, subsequently, the Prussian 
schools had been modified by the methods employed at Yverdun, 
educators journeyed thither to observe and to learn. 

To-day educators and teachers from several states, and from 
various parts of our own state, have come up to Oswego to see 
with their own eyes what they have heard with their ears of 
the schools, and the system of instruction pursued here. Their 
hearts have been made glad by what has already been witnessed, 
and their longings for some sound philosophical improvement, 
for some means whereby more satisfactory and practical results 
in elementary education may be attained, has been gratified by 
the hope that the glorious day has already dawned on our shores 
when the 2)hiloso2)hy of Bacon^ the principles of Comeniiis, the 
system of Pestalozzi, and the most practical methods of Object 
Teaching shall be thoroughly incorporated into the system of 
instruction in all the schools of our country. 



THE CLOSING EXERCISES OF THE CONVENTION 

were held in Doolittle Hall, at 7i o'clock on Thursday evening. After the 
reading of the Report of the Committee by Professor Phelps, the following res- 
olutions were offered by E. B. Talcott, Esq., in behalf of the Board of Educa- 
tion, and were unanimously adopted by the audience. 

Resolved, That the gentlemen and ladies who have visited this city on the 
invitation of the Board of Education, for the purpose of witnessing the practi- 
cal operation of what is known as the Pestalozzian system of education, as now 
taught in our primary schools, coming as they do from different and remote 
parts of the Union, have evinced an interest in the educational progress of the 
country which entitles them to the gratitude of our citizens, and of all who feel 
interested in the prosperity of the schools of the , country, and in the general 
adoption of the best and most efficient system of teaching in its primary 
schools. 

Resolved, That this meeting tender its cordial thanks to Miss M. E. M. 
Jones and to N. A. Calkins, Esq., for their able, interesting, and instructive 
papers read in this hall on Tuesday evening last. 

S. B. Woolworth, LL.D., Secretary of the Board of Regents, submitted, in 
behalf of the Committee of Examination, a resolution complimentary to the 
City Superintendent, E. A. Sheldon, to the Board of Education, and the citizens 
of Oswego, who encouraged and sustained these officers by a liberal public sen- 
timent, which had enabled them to be so successful in their labors for the im- 
provement of their public schools. 

Dr. Woolworth spoke at some Ie"ngth on the subject of education, and in 
commendation of the schools of Oswego. He said that the looks of intelli- 
gence, and the expressions of happiness among the children, had been to him 
a source of great gratification. He believed that their education has been prop- 
erly commenced. 

Hon. David N. Camp, State Superintendent of Schools in Connecticut, was 
called to speak as a representative from New England. He remarked that the 
schools of the Eastern States were inli-oduced with the log cabins, and were re- 
garded by the people as necessary to the existence of free institutions. New 
England, he remarked, was deeply interested in common schools, and all im- 
provements of the means of education. There the children of eveiy nationality 
were freely taught, as education is regarded as the true foundation of virtue, 
freedom, and righteousness. He had visited schools in all of the Eastern 
States, also in the principal cities from Maine to Missouri. He had also visit- 
ed the schools in Canada, and in all he had sought for something good to take 
back to his own state ; but he added, "During all of these visits, I have never 
found the principles of education so simplified and systematized — crystallized, 
as it were — as in the schools of the city of Oswego. I came here to learn, arid 
I shall go back to New England and tell with gladness what my eyes have 
seen and my ears heard." 

Remarks were made by Rev. Dr. Ludlow, of Oswego, and others, and the 
Convention adjourned. 



Willson's Series of 
School and Family Readers, 

And the System of 

Object-Lesson Instruction. 

[^From the Educational Bulletin, March, 1862.] 

It has not failed to be observed by those who are acquainted with the educa- 
tional movements of the day, that these Readers embody the principles of Ob- 
ject-Lesson instruction to a considerable extent, and so far as a Series of Read- 
ers can do it. Next in importance to placing befoi-e children the objects them- 
selves, is that of placing before them their representations, and leading them to 
notice every possible particular connected with them. Where it is possible to 
obtain only a dozen natural objects for purposes of instruction, we may present 
a thousand through the medium of their, pictured representations, and it is in 
this particular that these Readers systematically carry fonvard the system far be- 
yond any otherwise attainable limits. 

The early Readers of the Series announced the development of this " Object- 
Lesson" system to be a part of their plan. Thus, in the Preface to the Second 
Reader : " We would say to those who approve (as, doubtless, all do) of impart- 
ing instruction to children, and at the same time cultivating their perceptive 
faculties by familiar "Lessons on Objects" — a system now generally introduced 
into our best Public Schools — that they will find the leading principles of this 
system running throughout these Primary Readers." It is also further stated 
with reference to the early Readers that, "with a view to the advantages of this 
system, superior illustrative engravings are made the subjects of probably more 
than half of the Reading Lessons ; and the lessons themselves abound in ques- 
tions and remarks, which not only give life and variety to the reading, but which 
also direct the attention of the pupil to the engravings, and teach him to notice 
their leading characteristics of expression, figures, position, actions, supposed 
sayings, &c., and suggest numerous probabilities, which keep the mind of the 
pupil constantly on the alert." 

Thus much for the carrying out of these principles in the early Readers of the 
Series. The higher Numbers develop the same principles much more in detail, 
and with a greater degree of system, in the various departments of Natural His- 
tory and Physical Science. It is from these sources, indeed, that tlie Object- 
Lesson system derives its most aT)undant and most suitable materials, and these 
higher Readers have prepared the way for making them available. As showing 
that others have taken the same view of the educational tendencies of these 
Readers, we annex a few extracts from notices and recommendations bearing 
on this point. 

The Indiana ScJioo I Journal says of the Fifth Reader: "The whole plan and 
contents of the work are admirably adapted to the modern system of Object 
Teaching, now so popular, as it is becoming better understood." The Wisconsin 
Journal of Education says of the Series: "Such books would, in some degree, : 
supply that discipline which is expected from Object Lessons — a matter much 
talked about of late, but very little put in practice as yet." In Calkins's valua- 
ble work on Object Lessons — the standard introductory work on that subject — 
the objects and characteristics of good Reading-Books^ as connected with the 
principles of Object Lesson and Elementary Instruction, are described; in con- 
nection with which the writer remarks: "Those familiar with the new Series of 
Readers prepared by Mr. Willson will recognize these principles in their arrange- 
ment." The Athens (O.) Messenger says: "This system of Object-Lessons" is 
certainly destined to work a great reform in Primary Instruction in our schools, 
p^ndwe are glad to see such excellent works as Willson's Readers taking the 
initiative in systematizing and thus rendering tangible so valuable a method of 
instruction. The Huntingdon (Pa.) Journal says of the Readers : "They are well 
adapted to a systemactic course of Object-Lesson instruction ; or, rather, of in- 



2 Willsojz's Series of /School and Family Readers^ &c. 

struction by the representations of objects, by means of useful suggestions to 
teachers on the best modes of imparting instruction in the common objects of ev- 
ery-day life, and accompanied by a graduated series of lessons arranged with 
taste, judgment, and skill." The Protestant Churchman says : " These artistic- 
ally-executed engravings are as well suited to the education of the pupil's eye as 
the lessons are to inform his mind." The Lancaster (Pa.) Enquirer says : "The 
pencil of a Parsons has been at work in preparing the illustrations, which are so 
lavishly supplied, and which can so readily be turned to account in giving ' Ob- 
ject Lessons,' and in improving the taste of the pupil." One teacher, whose 
recommendation we have given, writes: "We use these Readers with our 06- 
ject Lessons." Another says: "The scientific portions are presented in an at- 
tractive garb, and in some respects supply the place of a separate work on Object 
Lessons." \Vm. II. Wells, Esq., Superintendent of the Public Schools of Chi- 
cago, places them on the list of books to be used in connection with their system 
of instruction in Object Teaching. Mr. Markham, the Principal of the Niles 
Union School (Mich.), says: "The plan of these books harmonizes so well with 
the recently-adopted methods of ' Object Teaching' that I believe their introduc- 
tion into our Public Schools will be attended with most happy results." 

But we have written sufficiently on this subject. Teachers who wish to avail 
themselves of a systematic course of elementary instruction on the principles of 
the Object-Lesson system, will iind such a course fully developed in works that 
are now, or that soon will be, easily accessible to them. " Calkins's Object 
Lessons" is perhaps the best introductory work on this subject, although others 
will be found valuable for reference. The "School and Fabiilt Charts," now 
nearly completed, and the " Manual of Qbject-Lesson and Elementary In- 
struction" which is designed to accompany them, but which may also be used 
separately, will extend the system over a very broad field of observation, from 
the learning of words as the representatives of real objects, to the acquisition of 
the elements of the Sciences; while the "School and Family Readers," elu- 
cidating the same principles, and affbrding the same kind of mental training, 
will furnish both teacher and pupil invaluable materials for carrying on the 
work. 



Plan, Objects, Aims, and Tendencies of the 

School and Family Headers. 

I. 1st, In the Early Numbers, a more general use is made of the Conversational style, than in 
other Readers, in order to give Variety., and to secure Aaturalness in reading. 2d, The proper 
Jnflectioiis are supplied from the beginning, and for the same purpose. 3d, A great number of 
the very finest Ewjravirujs is given ; and these are designed, not only to illustrate and give inter- 
est to the subjects, but also to cultivate the taste of the pupils. 4th, The principles of the Object 
system are curried throughout the whole ; the object being the gradual and systematic develop- 
ment of the perceptive faculties. 

II. Throughout the Higher Numbers, beginning with the Third Peader, the leading idea has 
been to combine Insteuotion in ubepctl knowledge, with Inbtbuction in the Aet of Reading. 
With this object in view, and to carry out more fully the principles of "• Object-Lesson" instruction, 
the various branches in Natural History and Physical Science— Zoology in its several depart- 
ments of Beasts (Mammals), Birds, Reptiles, Fishes, Insects, &c. — Physiology and the Laws of 
Health — the Vegetable Kingdom — Geology — Physical Geography — Natural Philosophy — Chem- 
istry Astronomy, <fec., &c., are introduced, and made to alternate with Miscellaneovs Divisions: 

these subjects are abundantly illustrated by the finest engravings— jwoptttan'zed to the capacities 
of children — and made to abound in interest and variety by descriptive incidents, anecdotes, and 
by many of the finest poetic gems in the language. A greater variety of reading matter ia 
thus given, than can be found in any other series. 

Prices. — The Primer (Introductory), 15 cents ; The First Reader, 20 cents; The Second Reader, 
30 cents; The Third Reader, 50 cents; The Fourth Reader, 66 cents; The Fifth Reader, $1 00. 

Single copies will be sent to Teachees and School OfBcers, for examination, postage paid, oa 
receipt of half price, and to others, on receipt of the full price. 

Testimonials, itc Numerous Testimonials to the merits of these Readers, ■with Notices from 

the Public Press and from Educational Journals, together with articles of interest on Educational 
topics, may be found in our Pamphlets of Educational Bulletins, which will be sent pre-paid on 
application. 

HARPER & BROTHERS, Publishers, Franklin Square, N. Y. 



SCHOOL AND FAMILY CHARTS, 

ACCOMPANIED BY A MANUAL OF OBJECT LESSONS AND ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTION. 

By MAECIUS WILLSON and N. A. CALKINS. 

This series embraces twenty-two Charts in number, each about 22 by 30 inches, abounding 
in colored illustrations. They are designed, in connection with the "Manual" and Calkins's 
"Primary Object Lessons," to furnish the teacher with the requisite aids for the practical appli- 
cation of a true system of elementary instruction. The charts are to be mounted on eleven 
pasteboard cards, for use in the school-room, and put up in port-folio form for family instruc- 
tion. They will also be furnished in sheets, in which form they may be sent by mail. 

I. ELEMENTARY CHARTS. 

No. I. — Elementary Reading; Familiar Objects Represented by Words and 

Pictures. 

Tliis chart contains ^xty familiar words, embracing all the letters of the alphabet, beginning with such words as 
cap, cat, dog, fox, box, etc., each having its appropriate colored illustration. The type is sutKciently large to be 
easily read at a distance of twenty feet. From this chart the children learn words by sight, as they leam to recog- 
nize the objects themselves. 

No. II. — Reading; First Lessons. 

This chart contains most of the words and several of the illustrations on Chart No. 1, together with the words 
necessary to form such phrases as cap and cat, hen and egg, a green tree, the good boy, an arm chair, the dog is old. 

No. III. — Reading; Second Lessons, containing all the Words on the First 
Chart, without the Illustrations. 

On this chart the words are arranged in phrases, .as " A green tree, a pig, and a large fish." The use of this chart 
is designed to give facility in reading, at sight, the words which have been previously learned by the aid of pictures. 

No. IV. — Reading; Third Lessons. 
No. v.— Reading; Fourth Lessons. 
No. VI.— Reading ; Fifth Lessons, '^ 

The charts Nos. 4, 5, 6 are designed to familiarize the children mth reading words in phrases and sentences and 
also to introduce inflections and emphasis. Each lesson is accompanied with colored illustrations. ' 

No. VII. — Elementary Sounds. 

On this chart the vowels and consonants are classified into long and short vocals, sub-vocals, and aspirates. The 
children are led to distinguish the various sounds by means of an arrangement in which a word ends in or contains 
a given sound, and is followed by a word commencing with the same sound, as me, e, eat; mold o'' old' d did"" 
imth, th, thin. The vowel sounds are also arranged so as to correspond with the order of the changes in the' position 
of the mouth in their formation, that when one sound is finished the mouth will be in the proper position for com- 
mencing the next sound. 

No. VIIL— Phonic Spelling. 

This chart furnishes exercises to illustrate, in connection with the "Manual," the methods of introducing the 
analysis of spoken words into sounds, as au aid to distinct articulation and orthoepy ; also to show how the analoev 
between the spelling and the sounds of various classes of words may be ased to facilitate learning to read durine the 
elementary lessons. ° 

No. IX.— Writing. 

With this chart familiar words are introduced in writing, also both the small and capital letters- to furnish correct 
models for their formation, and to lead the childi-en to become early accustomed to read and write' words in script. 

No. X.— Drawing, and the Elements of Perspective. 

This chart contains exercises to aid the teacher in the introduction of simple inventive drawing, and to give an idea 
of perspective. oi & 

No. XL— Chart of Lines and Measures. 

This chart illustrates the forms and positions of lines, also of angles, circles, and parts of circles, degrees of circles. 
angles of elevation and mchnation, and furnishes exercises for the eye in standard measurements. 

No. XII.— Forms and Solids. 

On this chart are represented the surfaces of the common plain figures and solids. 

n. COLOR CHARTS. 
No. XIII.— Familiar Colors. 

This chart presents a popular view of the colors fomilar in painting, dress, and flowers. The primary, second- 
ary, and tertiary colors are each represented in distinct groups ; and the prismatic colors are arranged as seen in the 
solar spectrum. In addition, each color is represented by a colored square of two inches in size, arranged in order 
from Its shade to its tint, as the Reds, from Crimson to Pink ; the Blues, from Indigo to Sky Blue, &c. This chart 
13 also accompanied with a duplicate set of cards, corresponding in size and color to the representations on the chart. 

No. XIV.— Chromatic Scale of Colors. 

_ This is designed for a more scientific p-esentation of the subject of colors, their combinations, modifications, tones, 
tints, etc., and to illustrate their laws of harmony and contrast in nature, dress, and painting. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



SCHOOL AND FAMILY CHARTS {Coi 
III. NATURAL HISTORY CB.A 



No. XV.~Zoological ; Economical Uses of Animals. E « «^^ 

leading orders and divisions of Quadrupeds. Containing twen _ J^ 71 „, ^v^^^vu. 

No. XVI. — Zoological ; the Classification of Animals. Class I. 

Ttis chart exhibits specimens of the five divisions of the Human Race ; also the classification of the Mammalia. 

No. XVII. — Zoological : Class II., Aves, or Birds — Classification of Birds. 

This chart contains illustrations, colored, of Birds of Prey, Perchers, Climbers, Scratchers, Runners, Waders, and 
Swimmers. 

No. XVIII.— Zoological : Class III., Reptiles ; Class IV., Fishes. 

This chart contains colored illustrations of Turtles, Crocodiles, and Lizards, Snakes, Frogs. Of Fishes, the perch 
herring, shark, cod, carp, pike, sturgeon, eel, lamprey, cat-fish, salmon, and trout families. 

No. XIX.— Botanical ; Forms of Leaves, Stems, Roots, and Flowers. 

This chart contains illustrations of the general forms and arrangement of leaves ; forms of the margins and apexes 
of leaves; curiosities of leaves ; forms of the stems of plants ; forms of roots of plants ; forms of flowers. 

No. XX. — Botany ; the Classification of Plants. 1st. The Linncean system of classifi- ; 

cation. 2d. The Natural Method. 

No. XXI. and XXII. — Botanical ; Economical uses of Plants. 

These charts contain colored illustrations of common Fruits ; common Root Plants ; the Cereals, or Corn Plants ; 
Rare Fruits from warm countries ; Medicinal Plants ; Plants used for Beverages ; Plants used for Manufactures ; 
Plants used for Coloring, Spices, Miscellaneous uses. 

N.B. — The "MANUAL" luill be found indispensable to a thorough and systematic course of instruction from 
these charts. 

PRICES. L ELEMENTARY CHARTS. Mounted ; 2 charts on a board : each board 60 cents. 

" " In sheets ; sent by mail, prepaid ; each chart 25 " 

II. COLOR CHARTS. The pair, mounted, together with a set of accompanying Hand Color- 
Cards 1 80 " 

Familiar Color Chart, in sheets, with Hand Color-Cards ; by mail, prepaid 90 " 

Chromatic Scale of Colors, in sheets ; by mail, prepaid 60 '* 

III. NATURAL HISTORY CHARTS. Mounted, 2 charts on a board : each board 90 "• 

" " " In sheets ; sent by mail, prepaid : each chart 35 " 

Whole set, mounted, $9. Whole set, in sheets, by mail, prepaid, $7 30. 
B^" The first six and the 12th of these charts are now ready (May 1, 1862), and the whole will be completed as 
soon as the coloring can be done. 

PRIMARY OBJECT LESSONS. 

For a Graduated Course of Development. A Manual for Teachers and Parents, with lessons 
for the proper training of the faculties of children. By N. A. Calkins. Illustrations. Fourth 
Edition. 12mo, 364 pp. Cloth. $1 00. (For Opinions, see second page of cover.) 

The illustrative lessons of this volume embrace, among others, the following subjects : 
Conversational Lessons — Form — Colors — Number — Size — Weight — Sound — Human Body — Physical Training — 
Place — Elem.entary Reading — Object Lessons. 

^ MANUAL OF OBJECT LESSONS 

AND ELEMENTAEY INSTKUCTION. 

For Teachers and Parents. Containing; a series of graded lessons in Natural Histoiy — Animals, 
Vegetables, and Minerals — Language, Harmony of Colors, and Drawing; and an outline of a 
Graduated Course of Elementary Instruction by Object Lessons, with Programmes for the Grades 
and Steps in the Course. By N. A. Calkins, Author of "Primary Object Lessons." Illustra- 
tions. 12mo, Cloth. (In Press.) _ _ . 

That the application of the principles presented in this, and the preceding work, may be made 
readily practical, well-digested programmes for the grades of each year will be given, showing 
the order and methods of presenting the successive lessons ; thus exhibiting, at a view, the com- 
plete "system" of development by object teaching in primary instruction. 

It is designed to give, besides, in a form convenient for ready use, a mass of information 
which teachers will find exceedingly valuable when selecting and arranging subjects for object 
lessons. 

HARPER & BROTHERS, Publishers, Franklin Square, N. Y. 

" American Educational Bureau," 

Established wi*h special reference to supplying Teachers and Schools with every thing adapted to illustrate the 

System of Instruction by Object Lessons. 

Books, Maps, Charts, Globes, Museums, Cabinets, Apparatus, Artists' Materials, Music, &c., &c., for sale at the 
lowest rates, for cash only. 
The plan of the BUREAU also embraces every department of business relating to Schools and Teachers. 
Teachers supplied with engagements. 
Schools supplied with competent Teachers. 
Schools Bought and Sold on Commission. 
No advance registration fee is required from Teachers. 

No CHAEGE TO SCHOOLS WISHING COMPETENT TEACUEBS. 

Eefeeesces : Messrs. D. Appleton & Co. ; Barnes & Burr ; Harper <fe Brothers ; Prof. N. A. Calkins ; Rev. Thos. 
L. Cuyler; D. S. Rowe, A.M., Tarrytown, N. Y. ; Wm. H. Wells, Esq., Supt. Chicago Schools. 
For Circulars explaining Terms, &c., address SMITH, XNILLSON & CO., 661 Bboadwat, N. Y. 



